Valentine "advances" could cause compensation nightmare

In a recent survey of 1475 employers from a variety of UK industries, 81% of bosses said that they are not aware that Valentine's Day festivities could lead to costly compensation pay outs to employees. 36% of bosses admit that they have received anonymous cards on Valentine's Day, and 24% of bosses admit to sending Valentine's Day cards to other members of staff.

Mike Huss, senior Employment Law Specialist at Peninsula BusinessWise told us:

St Valentines Day is traditionally a romantic interlude which brightens up a fairly dull time of year, traditionally involving the sending of cards, gifts and flowers often anonymously. However when this event is transferred to the workplace it can often quite easily cause problems.

This annual event has great potential for unpleasant behaviour towards any given individual, perhaps manifesting itself in the form of unwanted attention through harassment or to a certain extent stalking; such as bombarding an individual with rude or inappropriate cards or messages. This can be particularly harmful if the individual concerned is in a relationship or is simply not interested. Although Valentine's Day has innocent intentions it can have consequent effects in the workplace. For example jealously could easily set in if one member of staff receives more cards than a fellow colleague, thus leading to tension.

Unwelcome attention such as this can be very difficult to deal with, especially if for example the identity of the individual is not known, particularly true if there is suspicion as a denial would be difficult to disprove. This can lead to an uneasy atmosphere and an unpleasant working environment which can have serious detrimental effects on work place productivity. However if the offender's identity is known the injured party can ask them to stop, and if they refuse a formal complaint can be made under the company's harassment grievance procedures and formal action can be taken against the offending individual.

In the current business environment companies know how important it is to have equal opportunities policies which cover instances such as harassment. However it is difficult to see that any employers would have policies specifically targeting Valentine's Day conduct such as the sending of flowers and gifts.