By John Johnston
Enquirer staff writer

Your boss and one of your co-workers are having an affair, and everyone in the office with a pulse knows it, including you. It violates policy forbidding sex between a supervisor and employee. What do you do?

On the heels of the scandal involving Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen and one of his assistants (he says: consensual sex; she says: sexual harassment), we posed that question to two human resources experts. While noting circumstances will vary, they say it's usually best for innocent bystanders to take their concerns to their company's human resources office.

"Absolutely, yes they should," says Linda Gravett, senior partner of the management consulting firm Gravett and Associates.

"We're there for a good reason," says Patricia Hakes, president of the Cincinnati affiliate of the National Human Resources Association.

Gravett advises against directly confronting the boss about the indiscretions. You might get sucked into the mess, and if a lawsuit is filed, "You may find yourself on the witness stand."

In situations where the object of the boss' affection is receiving favorable treatment, other workers may be facing a hostile environment, Gravett says. That's certainly good cause for going to HR, which should launch an investigation.

Typically, any conduct that interferes with other workers' ability to do their jobs should be reported to a supervisor, Hakes says. But when the supervisor is the problem, human resources is the best bet. "If (the affair) affects the well being of the business, I think there is (a duty to report it)," she says.

E-mail jjohnston@enquirer.com