It’s Valentine’s Day! Cupid’s arrows are flying straight and true and filling the air with love. Everyone is happy and nothing about this Hallmark-approved magical day of romance could possibly mean problems for HR. Right?

I know, I know. I was just being facetious. As you probably already know, the hottest singles scene in the United States today is the workplace. Some surveys indicate that anywhere from one-third to one-half of all romances now start at work. What you might not know is that some of your employees are probably pursuing those office romances through “sexting” (sending sexually explicit text messages ).

While some of those sexts may be welcomed and reciprocated, some are “textual harassment,” which is simply another form of sexual harassment. Legally, it’s no different than committing harassment via e-mail, which was dubbed “e-harassment” by one court, though it may present different issues and obstacles for employers. To address and prevent textual harassment, you need both a clear electronic communications policy and a training program for employees regarding the use of electronic media. read more…

Do you provide cell phones or smartphones to your employees? Did you know that you could make your company liable for everything to automobile accidents  to sexual harassment? Even if you weren’t aware of the legal liability that can be created by employer provided phones, you can’t help but notice the liability of diminished production caused by employees distracted by their phones when they are supposed to be working.

The latest HRIQ quiz on HRHero.com tests your knowledge on the potential liability and distractions caused by employee cell phone use and the policies you should consider implementing to protect yourself. To take the quiz, click here.

Kenneth Kratz, district attorney of Calumet County, Wisconsin, sent 30 text messages to a 26-year-old domestic-abuse victim. Odd choice of medium, one might say, for an attorney to communicate with a witness. I can’t say that I generally communicate with clients or witnesses via text messages.  But that may be because I tend to communicate with clients and witnesses about case-related issues — and do so in a professional context. Not Mr. Kratz.

DA Kratz is reported to have sent these text messages in an attempt to solicit her for a romantic relationship. In other words, he “sexted” her. The content of the messages is salacious and, well, obnoxious. For example, he wrote in one message, “Are you the kind of girl that likes secret contact with an older married elected DA … the riskier the better?”

Remember, he is sending these messages to a woman whose ex-boyfriend he was also prosecuting on charges that the ex-boyfriend nearly choked her to death.

Katz didn’t deny sending the message. Instead, he defended himself by saying that the state’s disciplinary board had cleared him of any misconduct. He is reported as being angry that the “non-news story” of his sexting worried him because of its potential effect on his “reputational interests.”

The story came to light after Katz failed to take the witness’ lack of interest seriously, leading her to report the messages to the police. The department released the messages to the media at the request of the Associated Press.

[H/T Sharon Nelson, Ride the Lightning]

So, what are some of the numerous lessons for employers to learn from this story?

– First, don’t employ creepy people.  Not that Mr. Katz is creepy–I have never met him and certainly cannot purport to conclude his character from the news media. I have to wonder whether Mr. Katz exhibited any behavior in the workplace that would have signaled that sexting was part of his repertoire.

– Which brings me to the second lesson: When there’s reason to suspect a problem in the workplace, such as potential harassment (including “sexting” by and among employees), employers have a duty to investigate. This means now. Not later. Not next month. Not next time the Board meets. It means now. If you don’t investigate immediately, you cannot later claim that you did your part in stopping any bad conduct that was occurring. Which means you can’t claim the most valuable legal defense in a harassment suit.

– Third, if you don’t have a comprehensive policy on electronic communications that is easily understood and has been communicated to everyone in the workplace — shame on you. Get one now. Don’t buy into this nonsense about “only prudes have policies.”

Although we’d love to believe that “people should know better” than to send inappropriate e-mails or text messages, you ought to know better than to believe they really do. The stories are too numerous to believe that people don’t do dumb things, make bad decisions, or have significant judgment lapses. They do. Frequently.

So, instead of taking the glass-house approach and throw stones at those who end up in the news, take the more legally defensible course of action and actually write and initiate a policy that tells employees not to do these things. Then educate them and encourage discussion, such as sharing stories like this, so employees have it on their radars.

– Molly DiBianca