Dealing with Aftermath of a Sexual Harassment complaint

We had an employee file a sexual harassment complaint. A male employee sent unsolicited inappropriate pictures outside of work to a female employee. She spoke with several coworkers, asking if she should report it. One of the coworkers she spoke to came to me and reported the situation.

I spoke with the female employee and said the decision is ultimately yours. She made the decision to file a complaint. HR was involved immediately. Statements were collected and an investigation was completed.

Because the pictures and text messages were deleted by the female employee, it turned into a She said He said situation. We had no way to substantiate anything.

The male employee wrote a very explicit statement stating they were in a relationship.

From a management standpoint, I have to abide by HRs decision. The most I can do is limit their contact as much as possible and stress that professionalism must be maintained at all times.

Off the record, Do I think his statement is false? Most likely. He apparently asked her out at some point and she said no. Again, we have no evidence to substantiate her complaint because none of this happened at work, there were no witnesses, and text messages were deleted.

She is absolutely devastated by the outcome of the investigation. She spent 20 mins crying in my office after the meeting with HR. At the end of the day, she will leave.

I have to bring the male employee back to work. So now, I have an explosive powder keg.

We did find the male employee violated policy during the investigation. I can issue disciplinary action for that and will.

From an operational standpoint,I cannot immediately split them up and will have to keep an eye on them. Splitting them up requires hiring a new employee.

As a person, this situation breaks my heart. I was sexually harassed by a coworker at the age of 22. The main difference was he did it at work, in front of witnesses. My coworkers started running interference. Ultimately, he was terminated.

Update!

Both parties have asked to be separated. I have no issues separating them. We figured out the rest of this week and next weeks schedule. One employee relies on public transportation and the other has a car. The one with the car has been informed that the 3am shift has open hours needing to be filled. He is not thrilled that morning shift is his option at the moment.