21 July 2006

Office parties – can you risk it?

Office parties are a time of bonding, when people ‘let their hair down’, relax and have fun. But what do you do if Andy from accounts gets into a fight with Ian from IT?

Or what happens if Rachel, the usually quiet office manager, decides to push her professional relationship with Paul the office junior so far that a claim for sexual harassment seems inevitable?

The most important thing is to realise that regardless of how carefully you try to distance yourself, or however much you feel that such conduct is unrelated to you as their employer, you may well find yourself held accountable for the behaviour of your staff.

In the case of Chief Constable of the Lincolnshire Constabulary v Stubbs, the Employment Appeals Tribunal found that, as the employer, the Constabulary were liable for the actions of a police officer who sexually harassed a colleague both at an organised leaving party and at the pub. These events were not within work time, nor on the employer’s premises, but were found to be sufficiently linked to the employer to impose liability. They were “work-related social functions”.

Claire Taylor, Employment lawyer at Hart Brown, says, “Case law has also established that employers have an almost mind-boggling level of responsibility for what employees do in the ‘course of their employment’. Employers may find themselves liable for the actions of an employee that are well beyond the boundaries the employer recognises for the employees role.”

So how can this be avoided?

Before the event
Put preventative measures in place such as restricting the amount of alcohol available. Let it be known that whilst people are encouraged to have fun, it’s not a question of “anything goes” and is not just an excuse to get extremely drunk at your expense.

Most employers will already have policies on matters such as sexual harassment, discrimination and other forms of potential misconduct but it should be made clear that misconduct at a work do, or at events which are closely related to work, will be dealt with in the same manner as an incident within normal work time.

If you consider a certain act to be gross misconduct, warn employees before the event so that there can be no doubt about how seriously you will treat their behaviour.

The Morning After
Sadly, it is not always possible to prevent incidents occurring that might leave you open to litigation. The morning after may well become an exercise in damage control.

• Do not dismiss any allegation made – investigate claims and deal with them in the same manner you would any other work-related situation. If you don’t, it could be seen as your failure to take reasonable steps and might leave you with no defence, as you become vicariously liable for an employee’s action.

• Be calm and measured – do not act impulsively and punish without following Company procedures, including the statutory disciplinary and dismissal rules. The matter must be investigated and all employees must be given the same rights as would normally be the case.

• And another thing – without wishing to make it sound like you are in a lose/lose situation, there can be problems if employers severely punish employees for conduct that is considered too far removed from their employment.

In Williams v Whitbread Beer Company the Tribunal held that the dismissal for misconduct of employees who drank too much alcohol on the employer account whilst at an seminar was a step too far.

The Tribunal decided that the behaviour had been a result of drink paid for by the company, but totally outside the work place and so it was too extreme a response to dismiss them. To avoid this, have a clear policy on drinking and drugs, stating what steps you will take in the event of violation of the policy.

 

Common Party Problems


• Violence – Violence between employees that is not discrimination related is unlikely to be your problem. To be on the safe side the employers shoulders a clear code of conduct can help protect against backlash against the employer for the behaviour.
• Personal Injury – It is possible that an office party is close enough to the employment for an employer to be liable for injury sustained. Making sure venues and contractors brought in for the event are Health & Safety compliant could help to reduce your potential liability. Keep the staff off the tables!
• Work place relationships – It is common in the US to have policy on office relationships, but in the UK you should be careful as unnecessary interference between employees having relationships can be considered an interference with their Human Rights. However, if the relationship breakdown make sure that you deal with the fallout fairly and avoid the trap of dismissal discrimination claims.

You may at this point be thinking of cancelling all parties and social events, but do not despair! The reality is that as long as you act reasonably, make sure you have clear policies in place, and make sure that you adhere the procedures required you should be able to provide yourself with sufficient protect to minimise the risk to you and allow the fun to continue. After all, what would we have all talked about if there hadn’t been that time at the party when……

For further information please contact either Jo Pennycook or Claire Taylor at Hart Brown on 01483 887766.