SEXUAL HARASSMENT VERSUS WORKPLACE ROMANCE: SOCIAL MEDIA SPILLOVER AND TEXTUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

"Textual harassment" sending offensive or inappropriate text messages to coworkers is on the rise (Baldas, 2009; Hunton & Williams LLP, 2009; Parker-Pope, 2011). Contemporary social media technologies (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, blogs, Instagram, Foursquare) carry numerous risks associated with personal and professional connectivity, privacy, and intimacy, and these risks require a new look at policy formulation concerning the boundaries of workplace romance versus harassment in the Internet age. This article includes a review of the relevant literature on workplace romance and sexual harassment policies, and discusses evolving social media policies, legal perspectives, and privacy issues. We advocate the concept of "love contracts" to aid human resource professionals, legal experts, and romantic couples concerning the risks of social media spillover and harassment from romance in the office.