Podcast Offers Advice to Practitioners on Handling Workplace Sex Issues
If the BlackBerry buzzes with a question about an employer-employee relationship–as it well may, now that David Letterman has given the issue a higher profile–lawyers need to be prepared to offer advice.
Top bosses shouldn’t have sexual relationships with employees, period, says employment attorney Mike Maslanka in a Texas Lawyer podcast offering advice to other practitioners about how to handle such situations. While some companies make doing so a firing offense, simply having top executives agree, in a written employment agreement, to cooperate fully with a third-party sexual harassment investigation should be sufficient to address such potential relationships, he suggests.
When handling an employee complaint–and, to date, none reportedly has been made against Letterman, Maslanka notes–it’s important for corporate legal counsel to keep in mind that the company, not the executive, is the client. And, Maslanka states, requiring an employee, in any settlement that may be made, to promise not to cooperate with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could be a pitfall for the unwary.
Additional and related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Should David Letterman Have Kept Quiet? Mark Geragos Says Yes”
National Law Journal: “Don’t Play Like Letterman, Employment Lawyers Warn”
Updated at 6:30 p.m. to link to related National Law Journal article.
