What are the rules if the married boss (very valuable to the company) gets into a relation with a subordinate? Both get fired?

The problem with office romances is not the romances themselves. It's when the relationship results in other violations of workplace policies.

The problem is that people are idiots, basically. Some people can't figure out how to date someone at work without doing gross or idiotic things like having sex in the office, creating awkwardness with colleagues, saying or doing inappropriate things at work or on work travel, getting involved with married colleagues such that it becomes a distracting drama for all involved, and being unable to behave like mature adults if the relationship ends. Also yes, as a PP said, if one person becomes the other person's boss (especially if not disclosing the relationship in advance to prevent this from happening) there are a whole host of issues this can cause.

That's why it's discouraged. Not because there's anything inherently wrong with dating a peer at work -- it makes sense that relationships will pop up when you spend a lot of time with people. The problem is that most people have too little self control and no guiding sense of ethics and do stupid things that become a distraction or worse, thus ruining the workplace for others.

Anonymous wrote:Peer romances exist everywhere. It’s one level up from college romances. The “what about peers” comment would have cracked me up given the romance I’m in. No office sex allowed! Does that mean he can’t bend me over his desk? We haven’t done that but maybe someday.

I used to manage large teams of entry levels at a Big4 and they all dated each other, it was totally a level up from college. LONG hours, lots of travel, they inevitably turned towards each other and that made total sense. Many marriages. There was occasional drama managers would have to handle but it was just kind of an accepted thing you might have to get someone moved to a different engagement. Now a Senior Manager or a Partner screwing a staff? That was obviously not ok.

Peer romances exist everywhere. It’s one level up from college romances. The “what about peers” comment would have cracked me up given the romance I’m in. No office sex allowed! Does that mean he can’t bend me over his desk? We haven’t done that but maybe someday.

This "no relationships at the office" must be a silly American thing. I'm from Europe, and there it is an accepted fact that many people partner up at the workplace. It's natural, since you already have so much in common.

Several of us ended up eventually marrying our fellow residents (medical training). It wasn’t surprising since everyone spent so much time together. There was a scandal involving a male resident and a married female attending that resulted in both of them having to find new positions elsewhere but that’s about the extent of drama I encountered.

I get enough harassment outside of work, thanks.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t cum where you eat.

If you want some ass, there are so many place to find it aside from the office. You either get married or it’s flame-out drama. There’s no middle ground.

interesting variation…I was going to write office hookups are like defecating where you eat. Hasn’t anyone learned anything from the Cold Play kiss cam incident? I guess we are in desperate times.

Don’t cum where you eat.

If you want some ass, there are so many place to find it aside from the office. You either get married or it’s flame-out drama. There’s no middle ground.

There is no way your workplace can forbid peer relationships, OP. However things get complicated if one becomes the other person's boss.

We met at work and we were peers but we didn't date for three years. We were young MBA's working hard and you didn't have much of a life outside work. We became really good friends and then very quickly it turned into a romance. We did keep it hidden for a few months but then someone from work saw us holding hands in a park and that was it. Quite a few of our work friends also ended up married.

So reminds me of the 2026 Office Romance movie that I watched yesterday on Netflix. Highly recommend to all the people who attended the meeting, OP. Everyone will laugh at the end.

Bad idea…But you do you.

My father was my mother’s boss, they’d been married for 53 years, until she passed away.

I work for a good size company and there was a recent HR meeting reviewing certain office rules. One was no sexual relationships between bosses and subordinates. The guy sitting next to me asked "what about with peers?" I almost fell out of my chair laughing along with many others. The HR person struggled to find an answer and basically gave a stupid non answer. Truth be told there are a few peer couples in our division. My parents were peers and had an office romance and that was 35 years ago. I get the boss/subordinate rule but many people meet at work as peers and things happen.