My direct report is dating a C-level above me

[Dangerosa]

@armedmonkey

I don’t think that is correct. The corporate-speak wording in the OP did nothing to make this clear, but I suspect that the OP is not a peer to the Chief Officer - but rather is outranked and worried about retaliation if he were to take action against the Chief Officer’s love interest. Retaliation is a concern regardless of where it comes from, but it is obviously more a concern if the person wishing to retaliate outranks the OP.

He does say his boss is the CEO, and that the HR guy also works for the CEO, but he says that the direct report is dating a C-level above him - so I get the impression that he’s got a title like SVP or something, but the other guy is up a grade level. Peers on the org chart, the other guy has a better title.

[armedmonkey]

Ah, he did say that in post 38. I forgot about that