Complaint & Background: A and B met on a dating app. Both were working professionals at the same company though in totally different teams, locations, and reporting lines. To A, their relationship felt “casual and open.” But B saw things differently: he believed they were exclusive and accused A of cheating with several people.
At some point, A decided to end things. She says B had become emotionally toxic, constantly pursuing her even after she tried to step back. Then came the biggest shock: B threatened to make intimate pictures, taken during their private video calls, public. What made it especially terrifying for A was that he threatened not just to send them out to strangers, but to her colleagues. He never actually leaked them, but the fear was real.
Despite the relationship being “outside work,” A’s anxiety grew because she worried about reputational damage in the very workplace where she spent most of her day. Eventually, she filed a formal complaint with her company’s IC, citing that these threats had spilled into her professional life.
Response: B, on his part, denied the worst of her claims. He admitted to being upset when she tried to break up, but argued that his messages were made in the “heat of the moment.” Yes, there were screenshots but he insisted they didn’t tell the full story, that they were being twisted out of context. There were no workplace witnesses, because most of their interaction was personal (online chats, video calls), not office-based.
Challenges faced by the Internal Committee
- Does this count as sexual harassment at the workplace when the relationship began outside work?
- Can a threat to share private intimate content, even if not carried out, amount to harassment under POSH?
- How should the IC weigh the evidence when the only proof is chat-screenshots and claims, without people backing either side in the office?
Curious about the answers to the above? Join Us for our one-day Advanced Capacity Building Program for IC Members on the Law against Sexual Harassment at Workplace.
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Event Details: 12 December 2025 | 10 AM to 5 PM | MS Teams
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