I wonder if one is male and one is female...
for 3 years, my old boss (female) and i went to lunch 3-4 days a week, and never a word was said. Often it was just the 2 of us, but there were times when others came as well.
flash forward, boss starts working different hours, i start going to lunch earlier, so a supervisor that worked for me and i started going to lunch together (female) on more or less the same 3-4 days per week schedule, often just us, but others went as well...
Suddenly i'm in the CEO's office that i should watch whom i go to lunch with because rumors may start concerning favoritism and infidelity. I asked why those rumors weren't a concern for the past 3 years when i went with my boss...or why it was not a problem for the CEO who took his secretary to lunch 3-4 days per week, and one of the ladies from marketing the other days.
I never received a satisfactory answer, but also didn't alter my lunch plans...
Can HR tell an employee this? Yes. Is it enforceable and legal? That is a question for an attorney. Assuming they are going to lunch offsite, simple solution is each to drive there own vehicle and meet somewhere, then no one knows if they went together or not.
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