Sexual Harassment Claims At Tinder, Cautionary Tale About Workplace Relationships

The recent sexual harassment lawsuit filed against mobile dating app Tinder and its parent companies by co-founder and former marketing vice president Whitney Wolfe serves as an example of the importance of clear policies concerning employee relations, and of training employees about using digital communications. Wolfe ended a relationship with Tinder CMO Justin Mateen, her supervisor, and was subsequently stripped of her co-founder title and was threatened by Mateen, via text message, with dismissal. Epstein Becker & Green attorneys Christopher M Farella, Jennifer L. Nutter and Margaret C. Thering outline the lessons companies can learn from the incident, about training employees, managing employee relationships and warning workers about their “permanent record.”