The brief tenure of the CEO of the Red Cross has come to an end. He has been forced to resign because of an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee. The organization issued a press release saying that the CEO’s conduct reflected poor judgment on his part and impeded his ability to lead the organization.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that organizations of any kind will not put up with this sort of thing any more. It reflects badly on the organization, could place the organization at risk with respect to employment litigaton, and interferes with the day-to-day activity of the organization, not to mention its overall purpose.

It’s also not uncommon for serious sexual harassment lawsuits to arise out of relationships that were at one time consensual but turned sour. The risk to the employer in this kind of case increases signficantly when a member of the C-Suite is involved. Juries generally view an executive’s harassment of a subordinate to be the ultimate abuse of power, which means the employer will be required to pay big bucks. Most of the time, sexual harassment cases growing out of this kind of situation are settled well before trial.

At this point, there’s no indication that the subordinate employee is claiming sexual harassment. If the CEO’s conduct was welcome on the part of the subordinate employee, there’s no basis for a sexual harassment lawsuit. Interestingly, one question raised in the Washington Post article below is whether the subordinate employee could be disciplined or terminated. The answer is yes, particualrly if the employer has a policy addressing this kind of conduct, and the policy is applicable to both boss and employee. The employer must also have a history of enforcing the policy consistently.

It’s important for there to be ongoing C-Suite training on this issue as well as the usual training for supervisors and managers. It’s obvious the training won’t stop the conduct altogether (since all CEO’s know they shouldn’t engage in this kind of conduct but can’t help themselves–at least, some can’t), but it will help to some extent and place you in a better position to defend a lawsuit if one is filed.

President of Red Cross Is Forced to Resign