Superyachts are not just floating palaces. They can be floating pressure cookers, especially with young, adventurous people in close quarters, working long hours. The question for an owner is how to manage crew relationships sensibly and lawfully.
Crewmembers retain rights to privacy and family life, particularly where employment arrangements involve living on board for extended periods. Blanket bans on consensual relationships can be difficult to justify and may create enforcement problems. More importantly, they rarely work in practice. And hidden relationships are potentially more dangerous than disclosed ones. The focus should be on regulation. If you don’t have a proper written policy governing this entirely predictable behaviour, you could find yourself on the wrong end of an employment claim – or even a PR catastrophe.
POWER IMBALANCES
Let’s start with the stereotypical relationship which has the potential for causing the most problems: the captain–steward(ess) relationship. On a vessel, where the captain has ultimate authority over schedules, duties, references, and the welfare of everyone aboard, any romantic relationship between the captain and an inferior carries inherent power imbalance concerns that cannot simply be waved away by mutual consent.
The greatest legal and operational risks arise when one party has authority over another. Research consistently identifies perceptions of favouritism as the principal organisational harm arising from workplace romances. Indeed, an allegation of bias (whether based in truth or not) can lead to claims of unfair treatment by other crewmembers. In any event, morale and retention can suffer.
The safest approach is not to tolerate romantic relationships between two crew where one supervises another, perhaps by moving one party to a shoreside role. If this isn’t a viable option (and it normally isn’t), then this situation requires careful management through policies. And those policies need to have been in place at the outset.
NO IMBALANCE
Even where there’s no imbalance, couples may collude, cover for each other, or simply distract each other from their duties. Unintended flows of information can also be established, regarding guest information, security arrangements, or commercially sensitive matters. This is not just a practical headache; it’s a legal one if it leads to negligence, accidents, or breaches of duty. There must still be mandatory disclosure, so such relationships and corresponding risks can be assessed and managed. A failure to disclose must be a serious disciplinary matter.
BASIC RIGHTS
The Human Rights Act 1998 gives employees the right to respect for private and family life. This means that employees have the right to have consensual relationships with people they meet at work. An outright ban would almost certainly constitute an unlawful interference with those rights, and would invite an unfair dismissal claim if enforced by dismissal alone. So, regulating relationships is the only way forward.
If a romance turns sour, one party could allege harassment where there is unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. The Equality Act 2010 obliges employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment. And the normal burden of proof is reversed: if an allegation is made, then you must demonstrate that you, as employer, took those steps. Without a written policy and documented training, you’re already losing. And this is soon to change from ‘reasonable steps’ to ‘all reasonable steps’.
RELATIONSHIPS POLICY
Having a Relationships Policy in place, and expressly including it within the written employment agreement, is vital. It must be signed before the crewmember even comes on board. Without a policy in place, the employer’s expectations remain a known unknown. And the case law is clear: if a crewmember is dismissed in the context of a workplace romance, and there’s no policy, this is likely to have been an unfair dismissal.
The best policies are surprisingly short, and should encompass the following key elements:
- Relationships are not prohibited
- Consensual sexual relationships between adult crewmembers are not forbidden.
- This encourages disclosure, keeping in mind that hidden relationships create greater risk than visible ones.
- Relationships must be disclosed
- Non-disclosure will lead to formal disciplinary action.
- All disclosures are confidential.
- No preferential treatment
- Preferential treatment of an inferior involved party is prohibited – whether the reporting lines are direct or indirect.
- This includes but is not limited to watchkeeping patterns, leave allocations, accommodation, promotions, and rotations.
- Professional conduct remains mandatory
- Crewmembers must continue to maintain professional standards regardless of the relationship.
- There can be no public arguments nor public displays of affection on board, or any distracting behaviour while performing duties.
- Confidentiality obligations continue
- Relationships must never compromise owner or guest confidentiality, security procedures, or commercial information.
- Post-breakup procedures
- Involved crewmembers must accept the imposition of new or different watch patterns, duties, or accommodation arrangements, in order to eliminate post-breakup fallout.
- Complaints procedure
- If an involved or uninvolved crewmember complains about any aspect of the relationship, you must investigate this immediately.
- Disciplinary procedures
- The consequences flowing from a breach of the policy must be made clear.
Your Relationships Policy must run seamlessly alongside your existing Harassment Policy: crew must be in no doubt that unwanted advances will constitute harassment and are strictly forbidden. For yacht owners, the risk of a harassment claim is amplified because the workplace is also the employee’s home. There is nowhere to escape. Be consistent with the handling of all relationship matters. Any variation in management can undermine credibility and suggest bias to an employment tribunal.
Crew live in extraordinary proximity, in a high-pressure environment. Crew romance is inevitable. The answer is not a ban. Be prepared – legally and practically. Have a policy, enforce it, and treat everyone fairly.
If you would like advice on any crew employment issues, please contact Benjamin Maltby.
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