Worrying about somebody doing that is like worrying that a driver may hit the gas on red light just to run you over. I mean, yeah, there really are some horrible persons out there, but they're few and far inbetween.
Lots of otherwise normal people get horrible when they get dumped. I've seen some shit.
Besides, can't you always threaten the company with a wrongful dismissal lawsuit? HR would have to actually look into the sexual harassment case rather than just take her word for it, and if you did nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear.
Which is exactly the problem. These kinds of cases are usually he said she said matters. As far as wrongful dismissal goes, you can only do that in certain states except for in certain circumstances.
And if you're a member of a minority you could also threaten to include racial discrimination in your wrongful dismissal case, which will make any HR department back the hell off.
So lie about being discriminated against because of your race? What a scummy thing to do. I think if you did that kind of thing you'd fall squarely into the "horrible person" category. Not only does it help trivialize real claims of racism, it also unfairly paints your company and boss as bigots.
Ok, thanks for all the replies! This gives a pretty unbiased view and I definitely appreciate all opinions given especially from those who chose to share personal experiences.
So, I tried to arrange some time for us to talk about the whole thing, but unfortunately there just wasn't time today for both of us to meet to discuss the matter. However, we then agreed to meet for lunch tomorrow to talk about the whole thing a bit.
Having had some time to sort out my own feelings on this matter, I came to the following conclusion: I really like this girl and are attracted to her but don't necessarily think that it is love that I am feeling. Of course the fact that we do not know each other very well at all really makes this natural.
In most cases I think this would be enough to start a relationship with someone and see how it goes. However, for the workplace I feel one needs to be really certain of what you are doing before entering something like this, be prepared to take the risk that you still will have to see (and maybe even work with) the person in question from time to time even if it doesnt work out. Both of us have clear goals of where we want to be in the company in future and it would be a very bad idea to risk this if there isnt a good reason to do so.
So, what I am going to suggest at this meeting is that we just hang out a bit more and get to know each other better for now. At the very least it should remove the uncertainty that is already hanging in the air and help to clarify matters a bit.
I would suggest clearing the air and trying to end the entire thing amicably. Once you do that, you should probably avoid contact with her, which should be easy because you work in different departments.