We have had two dept. investigate a liaison between an Administrator and a subordinate. He has been the only person evaluating her. She always received perfect scores. He also gave her a salary increase of over $14,000, personally bought her reserved parking ticket, etc. Both investigative entities believed that the relationship was inappropriate. They both deny that it was sexual. The subordinate in the liaison had other problems such as cursing and yelling at the other employees. My question is: If she did not get to her position on merit can we demote on the grounds that she got her position through unethical means?

Rita Risser replies:

If he is showing her undue favoritism, for whatever reason, then the company has a duty to the shareholders to stop it. It is a waste of corporate assets to promote someone into a position for which they are not qualified. If she is also causing poor morale or inspiring employees to quit, she is not acting in the employer's best interest, which is her duty as an employee.

She may be removed because she is not qualified for her job. HE - the manager - definitely should be removed from his job for HIS unethical conduct. He is in the position of authority and responsibility. He has a higher duty of loyalty to the company than she does. Her boss approved everything she did - did his boss approve what HE did? How did she get a $14,000 increase without someone stopping it?

There is a lot of dereliction of duty here, on many levels. Where has HR been in all this? You don't have to answer these questions for me, but someone at your company had better be answering these questions!

Good luck!