Employee Relations

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Amorous Relationships

Citation Reference
Official Title	Policy on Amorous Relationships
Abbreviated Title	Amorous Relationships
Volume	Human Resources
Responsible Office	Human Resources
Originally issued	May 2008
Revised	January 2010

Policy Statement

The University System of Georgia is committed to providing a harassment free environment for all faculty, staff and students. A sense of fairness by supervisors and teaching faculty is a fundamental prerequisite for fulfilling the University mission of teaching, research and public service.

Reason for Policy

This policy reinforces the institution’s commitment to provide a safe and amicable workplace for all employees.

Entities Affected By This Policy

All units of the University System of Georgia are covered by this policy.

Who Should Read This Policy

All employees within the University System of Georgia should be aware of this policy.

Contacts

Contact	Phone	Email/URL
Office of Human Resources	404-962-3235	usg-hr@usg.edu
Institution Chief Human Resources Officers		See University System HR Officer Listing at http://www.usg.edu/hr/officers/
Institution Chief Legal Affairs Officer and USG Legal Affairs	USG: 404-962-3255 Institutions: refer to directory	USG: usg-legal@usg.edu Institutions: refer to directory.
Institution Chief Public Safety	Refer to institution directory

Website Address for This Policy

None

Related Documents/Resources

None

Definitions

These definitions apply to these terms as they are used in this policy:

• Board of Regents: The governing body of the University System of Georgia

Overview

When one party has a professional relationship towards the other, or stands in a position of authority over the other, even an apparently consensual amorous relationship may lead to sexual harassment or other breaches of professional obligations. The University prohibits all faculty and staff, including graduate teaching assistants, from pursuing amorous relationships with undergraduates whom they are currently supervising or teaching.

The Board of Regents also strongly discourages amorous relationships between faculty or administrators and graduate/professional students and/or employees whose work they supervise. Anyone involved in an amorous relationship with someone over whom he or she has supervisory power must recuse himself or herself from decisions that affect the compensation, evaluation, employment conditions, instruction, and/or the academic status of the subordinate involved.

Process/Procedures

Any individual in authority who is or has been involved in an amorous relationship with a person whom they may be called upon to evaluate must promptly report this fact to his or her supervisor. The supervisor will then arrange to see that the individual in authority does not evaluate nor participate in discussions and decisions that affect the compensation, evaluation, employment conditions, instructions, and/or academic status of the subordinate involved. Any individual who violates this policy is subject to disciplinary action commensurate with the offense. An institution may also elect to have such matters be reported to the institution’s department responsible for investigating matters that may relate to sexual harassment.

Each institution will establish a reporting process such that any person who believes that a faculty member, administrator, graduate assistant or other employee is involved in an amorous relationship with a person under his/her direct authority or supervision will have an avenue for reporting the perceived relationship.

Each institution will have the authority to take appropriate action when disruptive conduct, job performance problems, or actions that reflect poorly on the institution result from amorous relationships.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities each party has in connection with the Amorous Relationship Policy are:

Party	Responsibility
Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, USG	Ensure compliance with policy.
Institution Chief Human Resources Officers	Ensure compliance with policy.
Chief Legal Affairs Officer, USG	Provide guidance to Chief Human Resources Officers; safeguard system liability.

Forms

None

Appendices

None

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