A workplace relationship policy in Canada is a workplace rule that tells employees how romantic or personal relationships with coworkers must be disclosed and managed. A policy can require employees to report certain relationships, avoid conflicts of interest and maintain professional boundaries at work.
There is no general Canadian law requiring every employee to disclose every consensual relationship with a coworker. But if your employer has a clear workplace policy requiring disclosure, you should follow it—especially if one person supervises, evaluates or makes decisions affecting the other.
Ignoring a workplace relationship policy can lead to discipline. But violating a policy does not automatically give your employer just cause to fire you without severance. The seriousness of the breach and what actually happened matter.
On This Page:
- 1. What Can a Relationship Policy Require?
- 2. Do You Have to Disclose a Relationship?
- 3. Can Your Employer Ban Workplace Relationships?
- 4. Manager & Employee Relationships
- 5. Discipline & Termination
- 6. Breakups, Harassment & Privacy
What Can a Workplace Relationship Policy Require?
A workplace relationship policy can set reasonable rules designed to prevent conflicts of interest, favouritism, harassment and problems with reporting relationships.
A typical policy can require employees to:
- Disclose certain romantic or close personal relationships to HR or management
- Report a relationship where one person supervises the other
- Avoid making decisions about a partner’s pay, promotion, schedule or discipline
- Maintain professional behaviour during working hours
- Avoid favouritism or the appearance of favouritism
- Cooperate with changes to reporting lines where a conflict exists
- Follow workplace harassment and conflict-of-interest rules
For the broader rules around dating at work, see Workplace Relationships in Canada.
Does every employer need a workplace relationship policy?
No. Canadian employers are not generally required to create a specific policy governing consensual workplace relationships.
That is different from workplace harassment rules. Employers can have separate legal obligations to prevent and respond to harassment even if they have no policy specifically addressing office romances.
A relationship policy therefore does not replace an employer’s obligations under workplace harassment and human rights laws.
Can a relationship policy apply outside the office?
A policy can address off-duty relationships when they create a real workplace issue, such as a reporting conflict, favouritism or harassment.
The fact that two employees see each other outside work does not automatically give the employer unlimited control over their private lives.
The stronger the connection between the relationship and the workplace, the stronger the employer’s reason for becoming involved.
Do You Have to Tell Your Employer About a Workplace Relationship?
If a clear workplace policy requires disclosure, you should disclose the relationship in the way the policy requires.
Disclosure becomes particularly important when one employee can influence the other’s:
- Pay or bonus
- Promotion
- Performance review
- Work assignments
- Hours or schedule
- Discipline
- Hiring or termination
In those situations, disclosure allows the employer to remove the conflict rather than discovering it later after an employment decision has already been made.
What if there is no disclosure policy?
There is no general rule requiring every employee in Canada to report every consensual relationship with a coworker.
However, you should still disclose a relationship if continuing to make workplace decisions affecting the other person would create a serious conflict of interest.
Managers, executives and employees with decision-making authority should be particularly careful. Hiding a relationship while continuing to make decisions that benefit the other employee can turn a private relationship into a serious workplace issue.
How much do you have to tell HR?
Disclosure should normally be limited to the information the employer reasonably needs to deal with the workplace conflict.
For example, HR may need to know that a relationship exists and that one employee reports to the other. It does not automatically need intimate details about the employees’ private lives.
Employees should also expect the employer to handle sensitive personal information carefully and only share it where there is a legitimate workplace reason.
Can Your Employer Ban Workplace Relationships?
An employer can restrict workplace relationships where they create legitimate conflicts, particularly relationships between supervisors and employees who report to them.
Some employers go further and prohibit certain workplace relationships entirely.
A broad ban on every consensual relationship between coworkers is much more intrusive than a rule dealing with conflicts of interest. Regardless of how the policy is written, the employer must still respect employment standards, human rights and other legal obligations when enforcing it.
Can your employer stop you from dating a coworker?
Dating a coworker is not itself illegal in Canada.
Your employer can still set workplace rules that affect the relationship. For example, it can require disclosure or prevent one partner from directly supervising the other.
The employer can also require both employees to remain professional at work and address conduct that affects other employees or the business.
Can your employer make one of you transfer?
An employer can take reasonable steps to remove a genuine conflict of interest, including changing reporting lines or responsibilities.
That does not mean the employer can automatically impose a major demotion, large pay cut or substantially worse job without consequences.
If the employer significantly changes your employment because of the relationship, don’t resign before determining whether the change amounts to constructive dismissal.
What If You Are Dating Your Boss or Someone You Supervise?
A manager-subordinate relationship creates the greatest risk under a workplace relationship policy because one person has power over the other’s employment.
Even where the relationship is genuinely consensual, the manager can influence decisions about pay, promotions, assignments, discipline or continued employment.
That creates an obvious conflict of interest and can also create questions about whether consent was freely given.
Is it illegal to date your boss?
No. A consensual relationship between two adult employees is not automatically illegal simply because one person is the other’s boss.
But the relationship is much more likely to trigger a disclosure requirement or a rule prohibiting direct supervision.
Managers should remove themselves from employment decisions involving someone with whom they have a romantic relationship.
What if the relationship is consensual?
A consensual relationship is not workplace harassment simply because the people involved work together.
But consent must remain voluntary. Someone who agreed to a relationship in the past can later end it or make clear that further romantic or sexual attention is unwelcome.
Once conduct becomes unwelcome, the fact that the employees previously dated does not excuse harassment.
Can You Be Disciplined for Breaking a Workplace Relationship Policy?
Yes. An employer can discipline an employee for breaching a clear and reasonable workplace relationship or conflict-of-interest policy.
The seriousness of the discipline should reflect what actually happened.
Important factors can include:
- Whether you knew about the policy
- Whether disclosure was clearly required
- Whether one employee supervised the other
- Whether you made decisions benefiting your partner
- Whether you were dishonest when asked about the relationship
- Whether the relationship caused an actual workplace problem
- Your position and level of responsibility
Can you be fired for not disclosing a relationship?
Yes, an employer can terminate employment over a workplace relationship or policy breach—but that does not automatically mean it has just cause to deny severance.
A serious undisclosed conflict involving a manager, dishonesty or improper workplace decisions can be much more significant than two coworkers simply failing to report a consensual relationship.
If your employer alleges termination for cause, do not accept the allegation simply because a policy was breached. Just cause is a high legal standard.
What if your employer fires you without cause?
If your employer ends your employment without cause, you are entitled to the proper termination compensation that applies to you.
A consensual workplace relationship does not erase your severance rights.
If you are terminated, don’t sign a release before having your full severance package reviewed—you may be owed as much as 24 months’ pay.
What Happens If a Workplace Relationship Ends Badly?
A breakup does not remove either employee’s right to a workplace free from harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
After a relationship ends, problems can include:
- Unwanted messages or romantic advances
- Threats or intimidation
- Retaliation by a manager or former partner
- Unfair scheduling or performance decisions
- Sharing private information or intimate material
- Rumours, humiliation or ongoing unwanted conduct at work
If conduct becomes unwelcome, put appropriate boundaries in writing and report serious workplace behaviour through the employer’s harassment process.
See Workplace Harassment Canada for what your employer must do when harassment is reported.
Can your employer punish you for making a harassment complaint?
Your employer can’t lawfully retaliate against you for properly exercising protected harassment or human rights protections.
A sudden demotion, reduction in hours, discipline or termination after a protected complaint should be reviewed carefully.
Harassment connected to sex, sexual orientation or another protected characteristic can also raise workplace discrimination issues.
Can HR tell your coworkers about the relationship?
HR should limit disclosure of personal relationship information to people who genuinely need it for a workplace purpose.
For example, management may need to know that reporting lines are being changed because of a conflict. That does not mean intimate details of the relationship need to become workplace gossip.
What Should You Do If You Are in a Workplace Relationship?
Read the policy, disclose the relationship where required and keep workplace decisions separate from your personal relationship.
- Read the policy. Find out exactly which relationships must be reported.
- Disclose when required. Do not hide a conflict involving a reporting or decision-making relationship.
- Keep decisions independent. Do not make pay, promotion, discipline or other employment decisions involving your partner.
- Stay professional. Keep personal disputes and intimate behaviour out of the workplace.
- Report harassment. If the relationship ends and conduct becomes unwelcome, use the proper workplace complaint process.
- Get advice before resigning. If the employer demotes, disciplines or pressures you to leave, understand your rights first.
Workplace Relationship Policy FAQs
Is a workplace relationship policy legal in Canada?
Yes. Employers can create policies governing workplace relationships, disclosure, conflicts of interest and professional conduct. Those policies still have to be enforced consistently with employment and human rights law.
Do you have to tell HR you’re dating a coworker?
If your workplace policy requires disclosure, yes. If there is no such policy, there is no general Canadian rule requiring every consensual coworker relationship to be reported. A serious conflict of interest should still be disclosed.
Can your company prohibit dating between managers and employees?
Yes. Employers can impose rules designed to prevent manager-subordinate conflicts and can prohibit direct reporting relationships between romantic partners.
Can HR make you sign a consensual relationship agreement?
An employer can ask employees to sign an agreement confirming disclosure, consent and workplace expectations. Read it carefully before signing, particularly if it contains releases, admissions or obligations beyond acknowledging the relationship policy.
Can you be fired for dating a coworker?
An employer can terminate a non-unionized employee over a workplace relationship, but a consensual relationship does not automatically amount to just cause. If cause is not established, proper severance can be owed.
Does a past consensual relationship prevent a harassment complaint?
No. Consent can end. If romantic or sexual conduct becomes unwelcome, the fact that the employees previously had a consensual relationship does not prevent a harassment complaint.
Get Help With a Workplace Relationship Dispute
A workplace relationship policy can create legitimate obligations, but it does not remove your right to fair treatment, a harassment-free workplace or proper severance when your employment ends.
Samfiru Tumarkin LLP helps non-unionized employees who have been disciplined, demoted, accused of misconduct or terminated because of a workplace relationship.
If your employer has ended or significantly changed your employment, our employment lawyers can review what happened and secure the full severance pay and compensation you are legally entitled to receive.