At Office, Anything Beyond Handshake Can be Touchy

After countless bear hugs, fist bumps, elbow grips, and pats-on-the-back, Elizabeth Bernstein realized that she is her office’s “touchee”—someone co-workers know will be receptive to physical demonstrations of support, she writes for the Wall Street Journal. That got her thinking: When is such touching OK, and when does it invade personal space, or constitute harassment? From a legal standpoint, handshakes are the only 100% approved physical contact—everything else is dangerously open to interp