With the threat of dismissal looming, you always have to be extra careful what you do at work. This is especially if you have the urge to engage in amorous relations on your employer’s time.
In this article, we look at three recent cases of workers dismissed for workplace trysts. This includes a top US judge caught sleeping with a high-ranking police chief in her chambers. Also, a cop who used a government building as his hookup spot, and a nurse whose workplace romps were so rowdy they left colleagues hearing her “desk banging against the wall.”
Federal judge keeps job after romp with top cop
In the US, judge Eleanor Ross was caught having intercourse within her courthouse with a top police officer, then falsely accused her staff of fabricating the encounter. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the 58-year-old Ms. Ross was nominated to her position by president Barack Obama in 2014. Her courthouse rendezvous was uncovered after one of her law clerks made a complaint. The clerk reported that on multiple occasions Ms Ross had slept with a high-ranking, uniformed policeman inside her private chambers during work hours.
Additional allegations included that Ms. Ross did not properly supervise her clerks and that she had shouted and used profane language towards them. This prompted an investigation, with the district also alleging she had attended a partisan political event. Ms. Ross denied all the allegations. She suggested they were fabricated by the law clerk in retaliation for being required to attend the office in person. Ms. Ross later admitted that she made this up.
Intercourse in office and too many martinis
CCTV footage showed that a police officer had regularly visited Ms. Ross’s chambers, often in uniform and around lunchtime. This was backed up by the testimony of six clerks. They recalled overhearing what they believed to be intercourse taking place behind the judge’s closed door. The investigation found that Ms. Ross had engaged in intercourse in “chambers and during business hours” over the course of a relationship from 2023 to 2025. The officer involved was later identified by media as Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Kelley Collier. However, he was never officially named as the officer in question.
The investigation uncovered other inappropriate behaviour by Ms. Ross. Clerks described the courthouse as having an “eggshell culture” and noted that Ms. Ross did not provide them with sufficient guidance. They recalled an episode in which they had brought summer interns into the courtroom on their first day to observe Ms. Ross presiding over a criminal hearing. Shortly after that hearing, Ms. Ross declined to join the interns for lunch, telling those present that she had consumed too many martinis the previous evening. She had done so at an election victory party held by a district attorney friend.
Judge’s name made public after failed apology letters
In May 2026, a US judicial committee found Ms. Ross guilty of misconduct relating to the sexual relationship, the attendance at the partisan event and the false statements made to investigators. As a consequence, she was not dismissed but instead received a private reprimand, which did not publicly name her. She was also ordered to write apology letters to six former law clerks. However, when she sent them, four of the clerks complained that they were not sufficiently apologetic.
The New York Times obtained and reported on a signed apology letter written by Ms. Ross, which confirmed her identity. In a revised letter sent on 12 June 2026, she wrote that her “actions were patently wrong, and there is no excuse.” She told her former clerks that they “deserved better” than to have to deal with “my own offensive conflict.”
Judge tried to make amends, saved her job
Ms. Ross also directly acknowledged having falsely accused the clerk who had first made the complaint against her. She conveyed her “deepest apologies” to the clerk, adding that there was no excuse and that she regretted her behaviour “immensely.” She further acknowledged that her original apology letter had been “entirely deficient” as she “did not take full accountability for my actions.” Ms. Ross told the clerk that “I can never fully undo the harm that I have caused you.” However, she said that her “acknowledgment of these failures is a small first step.”
Following the revised letters, Ms. Ross was informed by the judicial committee that it was not considering dismissing her. It decided not to initiate a new judicial misconduct case against her on the basis of the adequacy of the initial correspondence.
Cop dismissed for hookup with security guard amid $200 staff bet
In the US, a Connecticut State Police trooper was dismissed after he repeatedly had oral intercourse with a private security officer while on duty inside a government building. Trooper First Class Owen Humphreys’ demise began in July 2025 when he started messaging a female security officer while he was working at the State Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut. By September 2025, the duo began having oral intercourse inside the state police office at the building. This happened on a “handful” of occasions until November 2025.
The affair unravelled after the security officer grew suspicious when Mr. Humphreys spent a prolonged period alone in the office with a separate female state trooper. In a fit of jealousy, she contacted Mr. Humphreys’ wife directly and told her about their affair. It was at this point that he decided to end it.
Security officer placed $200 bet on who could have fling first
The matter came to the attention of state police command in January 2026. This was after a police sergeant reported that several troopers may have been engaging in sexual activity with security officers at the government building. On the very day command staff learned of the allegations, Mr. Humphries attempted to pressure the security officer into silence. He told her to “not say anything to anyone” and “deny everything.”
The case took a more lurid turn with the revelation that the same security officer who Mr. Humphries had a rendezvous with had placed a $200 bet. This was with another trooper, Elson Abotsi, over who would sleep with a guard first. The security officer had bet that she would bed Mr. Humphreys first, while Mr. Abotsi bet that he would sleep with a different female security officer. Mr. Abotsi reportedly told her that he doubted she could “get” Humphreys because he was married.
Dismissed but kept his position in the army
Investigators found Mr. Humphreys breached five separate conduct policies and he subsequently faced termination of employment on 8 April 2026. It found that he was “unable to…fulfill his assigned duties while engaged in sexual activity within the office.” The security officer was also dismissed. Meanwhile, Mr. Abotsi faced disciplinary action for “conduct unbecoming” over the bet. Notably, Mr. Humphreys remained an active member of the Connecticut Army National Guard.
Two additional troopers were investigated in connection with the same security officer following reports of inappropriate relationships. However, those interactions were found to have occurred off duty and away from state property, and therefore did not constitute a breach of policy. The troopers who were not dismissed were reassigned away from the government building.
Nurse faces termination of employment for hospital tryst
In the UK, a mental health nurse was dismissed and removed from the nursing register following a series of findings of unprofessional conduct. Kate Sullivan was employed at Glanrhyd Hospital in Bridgend, Wales. She worked within a locked, all-male secure rehabilitation unit that housed a number of patients transferred from prison. Between October 2020 and the summer of 2021, Ms. Sullivan was in a relationship with a fellow staff member, known as Colleague A, who worked in the same ward.
An investigation revealed that the duo had intercourse on hospital premises on three separate occasions. On the first occasion, Ms. Sullivan was working a night shift. She led a female coworker into the hospital’s hub shop, making clear to her that she and Colleague A wished to be alone. The coworker moved into an adjacent room, at which point she “heard sounds consistent with sexual intercourse coming from the adjacent room.”
The witness stated that the experience made her feel “very uncomfortable.” She said that she could hear the “desk was banging against the wall” and the duo “both making noises.” The witness recalled that “the sex did not last very long,” for around two to five minutes.
Bragged about rendezvous with colleague
On the second occasion, Ms. Sullivan texted the same coworker that she just slept with Colleague A in the hospital’s recharge room. On the third occasion, a similar message was sent reading: “Haha [Colleague A] just had sex with me.” By this point, Ms. Sullivan and Colleague A were in a relationship and were both working the same night shift.
The investigation found that Ms. Sullivan arranged her scheduled duties in order to work more frequently alongside Colleague A. On one occasion she attended a shift she had not been rostered to work because Colleague A was on duty that day. There was also an instance where Ms. Sullivan left the ward suddenly with Colleague A, leaving the unit short-staffed and in an unsafe condition.
Dismissed nurse allegedly flirted with patient
The investigation also uncovered concerns regarding Ms. Sullivan’s patient care. She refused to examine a patient who presented with a rash on their groin. She also allowed a patient into her office with the door closed and the blinds drawn for approximately 20 minutes. The investigation found this to be a knowing breach of professional boundaries. It described the behaviour as particularly inappropriate given Ms. Sullivan’s “sexualised behaviour and difficulties in understanding boundaries.”
Ms. Sullivan was also found to have hugged the same patient and to have laughed when he referred to her as “babe.” On a separate occasion, the same patient physically grabbed a female colleague and grinded against her. Despite being aware of the incident, Ms. Sullivan failed to report it.
Dismissal and removal from the register
The investigation also found that Ms. Sullivan had breached confidentiality by disclosing to other staff members the reasons behind colleagues’ sickness absences. She criticised a colleague’s paperwork in front of others and referred to a different colleague as “a lazy c***.”
Ms. Sullivan denied that she had engaged in any sexual activity in the hospital. She claimed instead that she would “fabricate stories” to keep the coworker engaged in conversation. The investigation found that this was an “inherently unlikely” scenario. Ms. Sullivan was dismissed by the health board for gross misconduct following seven years of employment. She was also removed from the nursing register by the health authority.
Read more: Workplace Investigations and Stories
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