Ruling clouds employees’ freedom to fraternize

What if your boss could ban happiness? What if happy hour with co-workers was prohibited or the company softball team banned? What if any employee-to-employee social contact — on or off duty — was off limits?

A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board has some labor experts questioning whether that day might come, when employers can control a lot more of your off-the-clock life than you ever wanted.

Guardsmark, a New York-based security firm, instituted a rule saying employees could not “fraternize on duty or off duty, date or become overly friendly with the clients’ employees or with co-employees.”

The Service Employees International Union filed charges of unfair labor practices with the NLRB against Guardsmark, saying the company’s rule violated employees’ rights — perhaps even prohibiting workers from gathering for a beer after work.

This summer, the NLRB ruled that Guardsmark’s decree was lawful. It said workers would interpret the fraternization rule as merely a ban on dating and not a ban on association among co-workers, say for an after-work game of slow-pitch.

Look up fraternization in the dictionary: “Associating with others in a brotherly or friendly way.” That’s friendship, period.

So the dispute goes on, while workers question whether employers truly could ban them from having friendly gatherings after work.

“I think it’s ridiculous, and you can’t monitor it. Who and how are they going to enforce it?” said Terri Glass, 37, of Belvidere, an employee in the legal sector. “What I do outside of work isn’t really anybody’s business.”

In a letter to the editor in The Washington Post, NLRB Chairman Robert J. Battista said it’s an error to say the Guardsmark ruling advocated outlawing all off-duty communication. He added it’s not the tion. It’s not the board’s business to decide whether a company’s rule is “foolish or impractical,” he said, only whether it’s lawful.

As long as the ruling regards employees dating one another, it is legitimate, said Lori Hoadley, a labor and employment lawyer at Hinshaw & Culbertson in Rockford.

Hoadley has heard of companies that enforce some type of dating policy, but it only addresses relationships between supervisors and their employees.

“They are aimed at preventing sexual harassment as well as minimizing employee morale issues due to the appearance of favoritism,” Hoadley said. “By dating a subordinate, it can be viewed as coercing or forcing that person to date you.”

In terms of forming friendships and socializing with co-workers during nonbusiness hours, Hoadley said, “in trying to think of possibilities on why you wouldn’t want your employees to socialize outside of work, it’s beyond me.”

Locally, companies like AMCORE Bank discourage dating between supervisors and their employees.

“We don’t have a policy about dating, but we monitor it,” spokeswoman Katherine Taylor said.

And if dating would eventually lead to marriage for two employees in the same department, one would be moved to another department or location, she said.

Hamilton Sundstrand, an aerospace component supplier with more than 2,500 employees in Rockford, enforces a conflict-of-interest policy for all employees. Spokeswoman Melissa Marsden said employees “should not have any personal or romantic relationships that might impair their independence or judgment.”

Not all businesses have such policies or even really track these matters.

Manufacturer Woodward Governor Co., for example, does not have a policy that addresses dating among co-workers or supervisors or fraternizing with peers.

“It’s nothing that we monitor,” said Rose Briani-Burden, spokeswoman for the Loves Park-based company.

The closest policy Briani-Burden could cite is one that prohibits supervising one’s immediate family members. For example, “you couldn’t supervise your son or your brother,” she said.

But in terms of socializing and building friendships with co-workers, neither employers nor their workers see a problem. And the Guardsmark ruling has raised concerns about where the line will be drawn between fraternizing and dating.

“I could see a policy where you can’t date, but if I can’t go to the movies with co-workers, that’s outrageous,” Belvidere’s Glass said. “I met some of my best friends at the places I’ve worked.”

Glass, a former sales associate at Associated Bank, said the bank would host potlucks and holiday parties that were all about fraternizing. “It was such a positive work environment.”

Taylor agrees.

It’s common for the company’s employees to organize baseball game outings and golf outings outside of work. And the company holds large employee meetings twice a year, with social events usually afterward.

“We see (employee gatherings) as a big morale builder, and it helps employees create good business relationships with each other,” Taylor said.

Companies across the country, however, are becoming more strict about what employees and employers can and cannot do.

“Companies, especially large ones, are so careful. They’re walking a tight rope as it is with all the laws and regulations. It’s like walking through a mine field,” Hoadley said.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.