Sign here if you love your co-worker

Love is in the air, and it’s in the office. That is why some companies are making couples in the workplace sign a contract.

“With the amount of time people are spending at work, especially young professionals, there's bound to be relationships,” said Todd Shinaman, an attorney at Nixon Peabody in Rochester.

He should know a thing or two about inter-office dating. He met his wife-to-be at the firm 20 years ago. Back then, he had not heard of a love contract. Now, he is writing them.

"It's an agreement between two employees and their employer that acknowledges they're in a relationship and that it is a consensual relationship,” he said.

Management or human resources generally asks two employees in a relationship to agree to the company’s sexual harassment policy, to acting appropriately in the office and to showing no favoritism to each other – especially if one person is a higher level employee than the other.

“This is a way we need to try to protect the company and the people in the relationship from potential problems down the road,” Shinaman said.

Some employees may find the contract to be a bit intrusive, but that might make them think twice before getting too close with the person in the next cubicle over.

“It's their personal life, but at the same time it could complicate the workplace,” said one woman.

Shinaman says most companies who use the contracts have had sexual harassment or relationship problems in the past. But he says the agreements won't completely eliminate problems.

But the next time a relationship goes from good to bad, signing next to the “X” might not sound so awful after all.

“On those rare occasions things don't go well or end up well, the employer has some type of protection,” Shinaman said, “and the employees know what should I do about this and who should I go to.”