Lack of policies that restrict the romance between supervisors and their subordinates leads to problems at work

More than half of the top government agencies in Nevada do not explicitly prohibit romantic relationships between supervisors and subordinates, despite many employment experts who describe such a policy as the best practice.

Even with the “#metoo” movement, only three out of 11 governments questioned by Las Vegas Review-Journal Ban Subordinate Dating/Dating and two require notification. Other agencies quoted the policies of ethics and conflict of interest as approaching the problem.

Those without an explicit policy include Clark County, where the former public administrator Robert Telles continued an adventure with a subordinate, who, according to other employees, contributed to an office marked by harassment and intimidation. Telles was Convicted of killing the review reporter-JEFF JEFF GHn, which at his death in 2022 was Reporting employees complaintsincluding adventure charges.

“It seems to me that it is an extremely tragic example of the consequences of not being diligent in this issue,” said the lawyer of employment Law, Arthur Kohn, deputy professor at New York University, in an interview.

There are many other examples, he said, in which the lives of the employees are made miserable by the toxic situations in the workplace that can result when the boss is involved with a staff member.

Out of 11 government entities in Nevada were requested, five policies govern all their employees who restrict surveillance/subordinate relationships.

Given these figures, “my opinion is that it has to do a better job,” said lawyer Michael Gebhart, an associate teacher who teaches the right to employ the workforce at Unlv’s Hospitality College.

The Telles case “is a perfect example of why this should be paid more,” he said. “Did the county know about the relationship at the beginning, could the whole event have been prevented?”

#Me too

Several companies establish policies that restrict the surveillance/subordinate relations from which power imbalances and interest conflicts appear, Kohn wrote in a post on the Harvard School of Law on corporate compliance.

Having an anti-fraternization policy sends a message about sexual harassment, mitigates the legal risk and avoids certain toxic environmental situations, wrote in 2020 with colleagues at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Kohn has retired from the company since then.

“As the #Metoo movement has prominent, it is possible that a subordinate will not feel comfortable saying” no “to an supervisor, on the other hand, has respected the relationship in fear of adverse employment,” says Post.

At least, Kohn said, employers should require a relationship between a supervisor and their subordinate. In this way, the management can re -regis an employee or monitor the relationship. It can also determine what to communicate to other employees about the relationship.

“One of the most toxic things you can have in a work environment is a situation where there is a fear that a manager favors a subordinate to others, because they have a personal relationship,” Kohn said.

The employees of Telles’s office complained that his relationship with Roberta Lee-Kennett offered the preferential authority and treatment.

With a policy that prohibits sexual harassment is not enough to prevent problems, said Gebhart. Even a consensual relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate can create a hostile working environment for other employees or can lead to a sexual harassment request when the relationship ends.

For these reasons and for other reasons, most companies discourage close personal relationships between supervisors and those they supervise, according to Kohn and Gebhart.

In Nevada, where the hospitality sector is the largest employer, “most hotel casino brands prohibit managers from meeting their direct reports to avoid conflicts of interest and the emergence of favoritism,” said Gebhart.

Neither Kohn nor Gebhart saw a reason why the risk in a government frame would be lower than in a business environment.

In fact, Gebhart believes that such a policy is more important for the government. “Could relations in government agencies lead to corruption, trusted pants and waste? Yes, he said.

He said that businesses can be more focused on this problem because they follow the bottom line, he said.

“Cases on the right of employment can arouse a business if there are Mulimillion-Dollar prizes,” he said. “The government spends money. Are not motivated by profit. They do not think about financial branches. “

In May, four employees of Clark County Public Administrator Office sued the county and Tellesclaiming that he created a hostile, reprisal and discriminatory working environment.

Challenges of application

Although there is No Explicit Policy of Clark County By prohibiting the relationships between supervisors and subordinates, it is assumed that such relationships can violate the county rules, according to the county.

County policies say that employees are forbidden by activities that “deliberately inhibit or cause difficulties for a team member or supervisor” or would influence an employee to act in the best interests of the county or public.

The county management prevented the reporting relationship between Telles and his staff, according to Jennifer Cooper, the county communications and strategy director. This appeared after the German began to report on the office complaints.

Cooper noted the difficulty of applying the county rules to an elected official, such as Telles.

“The chosen officials are governed by the Nevada Commission for Ethics and not by the directives of our staff,” she wrote in an E -mail.

The application of the rules regarding an elected official could represent a challenge, the head of the Ethics Commission acknowledged.

“I am not aware of a blanket rule that prohibits a county legislative body (the Commission) to adopt ordinances, policies or procedures that apply to the elected officials, as well as to the staff,” wrote Ross Armstrong, the executive director of the Ethics Commission, in an Email, “however, there could be some questions.”

The part “con” “

In addition to Clark County, five other government entities had no explicit policy on surveillance-subordinate relations: the executive branch of the Nevada State Government, the School District of Clark, the water authority in the south Nevada / Las Vegas Valley Water District / Springs Preserve, Vegas.

North Las Vegas requires training for all employees who address “problems that are inherent to surveillance/subordinate issues, including romantic relationships,” wrote Kathleen Richards spokesman in an E -mail.

North Las Vegas has an explicit policy only for his police department. It restricts “intimate or financial relationships between trainers or supervisors and evidence or subordinates.”

Metro places restrictions on some of its officers. The field training officers and the new officers “will not socialize in a service capacity, will be involved in a romantic or meeting relationship”, its policy will “do not engage in a sexual relationship while in preparation on the ground”.

In the response to the Review-Journal magazine registration, Metro mentioned that politics does not prohibit supervisors from having sex with subordinates if the relationship is consensual, apart from what we have already mentioned.

“We do not want to combine consensual sexual relations with” sexual harassment, “he said.

The cities of Henderson and Reno require the reveal of a relationship with leadership, which can take measures, such as reinsigning an employee.

Three entities explicitly asked the supervisor/subordinate personal relations: Las Vegas, the Convention and Authority for Visitors in Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Kohn and his colleagues also wrote on the “cone” side of anti-fraternity policies.

Romantic relationships bloom in the workplace, and leadership attempts to discourage them may seem to be rooted on personal life, they wrote. Then it is also the difficulty of defining what constitutes a close personal relationship. And how an employer police such a policy?

“These are sensitive problems, the personal relationships of the people they do not necessarily want to be made public,” Kohn said. “Some people are moving away from conflict and tension and can rationalize things about why everything will be okay. “

Contact Mary Hynes at [email protected] or 702-383-0336. follow @Maryhynes1 X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal magazine investigation team, focusing on the reporting of leaders and agencies and exhibits crimes.