Don’t pester colleagues for dates, Facebook staff are told

FACEBOOK and Google have warned staff not to ask workmates out more than once if they are rebuffed the first time.

So-called ‘love contracts’ or ‘relationships at work contracts’ are becoming more common at US companies.

They are designed to prevent conflicts of interest, such as when a manager attempts to woo a junior colleague.

Someone who is turned down when trying to set up a date could be breaking their contract if they make a second attempt to chat up a workmate, American staff have been told.

Ambiguous answers such as ‘I’m busy’ or ‘I can’t that night’ are also said to count as a no. Heidi Swartz, Facebook’s global head of employment law, told the Wall Street Journal that staff must disclose relationships that could lead to a conflict of interest.

However, London-based employment law experts said similar moves would be difficult to enforce in the UK because of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the right to privacy and family life. Jonathan Maude, of law firm Vedder Price, said: ‘In the US they don’t have the same concept of privacy.’

He said he believed sending managers on courses about sexual harassment would be more effective than resorting to ‘love contracts’ in the workplace.