Policies – Personal Relationships in the Workplace
Things get complicated when relatives work together or when two people that start to date or are dating work together. It’s best to just not work at the same place where you are in a relationship with someone. If it happens, reach out to your supervisor to let them know.
Personal Relationships in the Workplace
When relatives or persons involved in a dating relationship work in the same area of an organization, it may cause problems at work. In addition to claims of favoritism and morale issues, personal conflicts from outside can sometimes carry over to work.
For this policy, we define a relative as any person who is related to you by blood or marriage, or whose relationship with you is similar to that of a relative. We define a dating relationship as a relationship that might reasonably be expected to lead to a consensual “romantic” or sexual relationship or appear as such.
An employee may not directly work for a relative, supervise a relative, have access to confidential payroll or personnel records, or would audit or receive money handled by the other without the President’s approval. We do not allow a person in a dating relationship to work for the other person in that relationship or to supervise that other person. Wendy’s of Missouri reserves the right to take quick action if an actual or potential conflict of interest arises involving relatives or persons involved in a dating relationship who are in positions in the same line of authority.
If two employees become relatives or start a dating relationship and one of them supervises the other, the one who is the supervisor is required to tell management about the relationship. We will then ask the two employees to decide which one of them is to be transferred to another available position. If they do not make that decision within 14 calendar days, Wendy’s of Missouri will decide which one will be transferred or terminated from employment, if necessary.
There may also be situations when there is a conflict or the potential for conflict because of the relationship between employees, even if there is no direct reporting relationship or authority involved. For instance, Senior Staff must not show favoritism or perceived favoritism toward another Senior Staff employee, or any other level employee. In that case, we may reassign, discipline, or terminate one or both employees.