VIDEO. Pauline Bailly, human resources consultant, answers questions about love at work

“Legally, nothing prohibits having, today in France, a relationship with a colleague“says Pauline Bailly. According to her, the only difficulty would be the hierarchical link. Because how can you be sure that an intern or a lambda employee is really consenting or acts because he has a hierarchical link with his superior.

The question is “when does it stop”?

In theory, flirting at work is not prohibited. But the danger is to assess whether the actions are similar to flirting or harassment. For Pauline Bailly, flirting stops when the other says “no” clearly or shows it with signals. “I return to the story of the manager with someone from his team, she will not necessarily dare to say a frank no. On the other hand, it will potentially send signals”. But this consent story can be more difficult during festive events because the message sent is “have fun, enjoy, bond“, which confuses the tracks.

When two employees start a relationship, some companies provide rules on the subject: “In large groups, sometimes you do have an obligation to notify when you have a personal relationship with someone”. To prevent but also to protect the persons concerned on the themes which are linked to harassment but also to the potential impacts linked to the professional activity and the risks of conflict of interest.

For sexual relations in the workplace, no law seems to prohibit these practices. However, “it is a behavior that would be judged a priori as perfectly inappropriate in the professional context”says Pauline Bailly. If two employees are caught red-handed, it will be up to the company to apply sanctions according to its level of tolerance.