What is "Love" Contract?

Companies have a policy which states that colleagues in the same department, or (sometimes) in the same functional should not fall into a relationship. The main reason for this policy is that the company is worried that the personal relationship might ruin their professional behavior towards one another. It may be possible that one person reports to the other. Then, this sort of personal commitment only raises the possibility of that person favoring his/ her partner. Also, even though no favoritism takes place, the other members in the team might feel that they are being sidelined. Hence, in order to prevent such issues, the companies form such rules.

But still, relationships do continue to happen. And there have been cases where harassment cases have been filed after break-ups. As we all know, a sexual harassment case spoils the reputation of the company. In such a case, how does the company handle itself? The answer presents itself in the form of a love contract. It is usually signed to solve all the potential troubles that a company may face at the end of a romantic work relationship. The contract requires both the employees (who are in a relationship, and acknowledge it) to sign a document stating that the relationship is by mutual consent.

However, a question that arises is - "Is the company free from future litigation possibilities even with a love contract policy in place?". The answer is an emphatic NO. This is because, a love contract policy, as seen in the case, requires the couple to declare their relationship openly. Pritam and Jagruti had to openly declare their love for each other. There may be people in the organization who are not willing to declare their relationship (for fear of being the center of public gossip, or for fear of being ostracized by the society. It may so happen that the employees may want to keep their relationship a secret from the others due to reasons known only to them). Also, the employees can always argue that they were forced by the company to sign the contract (and hence, the relationship was not by consent). Here, Pritam could always argue that he was forced to sign the document, and without which the GM (HR) had threatened that he would not be promoted and send to Detroit. Hence, we can see that the company can never be free of the litigation possibilities, though it may have the Dating and Relationship policy in place. However, the number of such (litigation) cases might decrease. Also, the presence of such a contract might help in maintaining a functional workplace environment even after the relationship has gone sour. This is because the contract usually specifies the conduct of the employees during and after the relationship.

Basically, as a website defines it, a love contract is a code of conduct that the employees in a relationship have to follow. It is entirely up to the discretion of the employees to sign the contract. The questions that arise are in this particular case are:

1) Why did Intermediaries Technologies link promotion with the contract?

2) Why did it make mandatory for both the employees to sign the document (and in Pritam's case, without even reading the document)?

The answers elude me, maybe further discussion on this topic will help me to clarify my thoughts on this.