WWE Reportedly Established Consensual Relationship Policy for Employees in 2023

As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit this past January against TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. McMahon officially resigned from TKO Group and WWE shortly afterwards over the fallout from this lawsuit.

Prior to the lawsuit, McMahon had initially resigned from WWE in July of 2022 following allegations of sexual misconduct against McMahon and hush money payments towards several former female employees and talent. McMahon officially returned back to the company in January of 2023.

Post Wrestling’s John Pollock and Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that WWE had established a new policy on sexual or romantic relationship in their workplace in June of 2023. This new policy reportedly was adopted one year after the news of the sexual misconduct allegations against McMahon were made public.

It was reported that this new policy is three-pages in length and states “an employee shall not exercise responsibility (instructional, evaluative, or supervisory) for any affiliated individual with whom the employee has or had a consensual relationship.”

In regards to WWE’s top executives, this policy specify states that “WWE strongly discourages consensual relationships involving any WWE Board Member, or executive team member, such as the CEO, President, CFO, Chief Content Officer, Chief Legal Officer, or Chief Human Resources Officer.”

Pollock and Thurston reported that several current and former WWE employees who were contacted for their story could not recall any specific policy addressing consensual workplace relationships that predates this new policy.

It was reported that they had contacted Dr. Lisa Mainiero, Professor of Management at Fairfield University, for her thoughts about WWE’s new policy and its effectiveness. Mainiero stated:

“This is an ‘okay’ policy, better than most, but still inadequate. However, [WWE] did not address the issue of hierarchical relationships. which are certainly a conflict of interest.

I am pleased to see they included ‘affiliated relationships’ as part of their policy.”

It was reported that WWE’s new policy does include a “Consensual Relationship Acknowledgement” form and the section of the policy regarding it states that relationships between an employee and any independent contractor, including talent, “must abide by the Consensual Relationship Policy.”

In regards to punishments for WWE executives who violate the policy, it was reported that this new policy does not list any specific consequences and instead states ” Violation of this policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

In regards to Grant’s current lawsuit against McMahon, it was reported that the absence of an official policy on consensual workplace relationship in WWE at the time of Grant’s employment “complicates the question of whether executives who may have known about the CEO’s relationship with a subordinate, but not about the alleged abuse, had an obligation to intervene.”

When asked for her thoughts about this issue and if WWE executives had an obligation to intervene, Mainiero stated:

“It is my personal belief that such a power disparity as described here [involving Grant and McMahon] would raise eyebrows and other executives should have gone to HR to alert them to the issue.

Pollock and Thurston reported that they had also contacted Professor Michael Z. Green, Director of the Workplace Law Program at Texas A&M University’s School of Law, for their story who gave the following response in regards to the obligations WWE executives had to intervene.

“I find it uniquely vile and disgusting for someone at the CEO level to attempt to engage in what is purported to be a consensually sexual relationship with a lower level subordinate given the power differential.

I would say in general that any managers who are aware of such relationships and fail to address it or even condone or support it are also at a minimum making a bad decision and exercising poor judgment.”

It was reported that this new policy states that if a WWE executive engages in a workplace relationship with an employee, they are required to disclose it to Steve Koonin, who is the lead independent board member.