is a company discriminating against a worker by telling him/her they cannot have any contact with their spouse/girlfriend-boyfriend/finance at work whom also happens to be a co-worker in the same area

troubled worker in south dakota

No, it is not illegal for an employer to prohibit contact between employees, so long as a person is not being singled out because of his/her age, disability, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion or gender.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

We have a scenario in our small office.
One of the owners (male) of our company is currently dating (and i use that term loosely) a co-worker (female) of ours. The entire office knows about it and tolerates it only because we have no idea how or why or when to broach the matter. We are scared of losing our jobs if we don't 'go along' with the scenario.
We all feel she gets 'special' treatment and feel that she gets away with bending the rules. They are, for all intents and purposes, 'professional' during working hours, but have been open about the affair after work hours, at after work functions.
She generates more money than all of us, therefore feels she is entitled to behave the way she does.
He is still technically married, as is she.
Our work environment is now stressful and uncommunicative, not to mention full of 'gossip' and backlashing because of this situation.
We have already had one person leave and were hoping to be able to remedy this somehow, but are curious as to any laws that might protect us when this 'situation' gets ugly, as we are sure it will do.
Is this in any way harrassment?

This is the primary reason why I discourage intimate relationships between coworkers. If they can't be avoided (as people will be people), the people involved should take every precaution to maintain discretion. They should also ensure that each signs a statement saying that if one of them every feels that the relationship is no longer mutual, they will inform the other person. They should both acknowledge the company's harassment/discrimination policy.

But, it sounds like you are a coworker, rather than an active participant or a supervisor. You can learn more about discrimination at: www.eeoc.gov (http://www.eeoc.gov). Chances are that the situation doesn't constitute sexual harassment to you unless you are faced with pervasive details of their intimate relationship. The only potential issue is if the male originally approached you for an intimate relationship, you turned him down and now you are penalized. It doesn't sound like that is the case.

As an alternative, you may wish to contact the HR Department (if you have one) or one of the employee's supervisors (confidentially), letting them know that you and others are uncomfortable with this relationship. The HR Department/supervisor will probably tell the people to be much more discreet, taking the advice that I offered above.

Let me know if you have any other questions.