Beware the Pitfalls of the Christmas Party

For those considering holding staff parties beware the following pitfalls ;

1. Invitations
Be careful not to discriminate or harass on the grounds of religion; if you have a diverse workforce do not insist all staff attend or even do not promote the event as a Christmas party.

Beware out of hours parties which may prejudice staff with family commitments (which could be interpreted as indirect discrimination towards such staff).

2. Free bars
Beware of providing free alcohol.  Employees dismissed for drunken misdemeanours at parties may be able to defend an unfair dismissal claim by suggesting that provision of a free bar amounted to condoning their behaviour.

3. Beware the Mistletoe
Employees are likely to be considered acting in the course of their employment whilst at staff parties. This leaves an employer vulnerable to claims of harassment and discrimination for inappropriate comments and behaviour.

4. Guests
Beware misbehaving customers or clients and how your staff are encouraged to deal with them.  In a recent EAT case a local authority housing officer alleged that her employer should be ‘vicariously’ liable for racist abuse to which she had been subjected by customers. She alleged that this was a result of the employer’s policy that staff should not challenge racist behaviour by clients or customers.

The EAT suggested that an employer might be liable for harassment if it had a  policy which helped create an offensive work environment.

5. Secret Santa
If asking staff to bring a Secret Santa gift, ask that all gifts are not likely to offend.  There are a multitude of novelty gifts that could cause offence giving rise to a potential harassment or discrimination claim.

Now, after all that enjoy your Christmas Party – if you can!

For further updates on employment law, see our quarterly employment law bulletin. 

This article is for the purpose of general awareness only and the law may have changed since it was originally published.  It does not constitute legal or professional advice and readers should not act on the basis of the information included.  Readers should take appropriate advice upon their own particular circumstances.