Connecticut Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Daniel Schwartz : Stamford, Hartford New Haven, CT

This month, I've recapped some thoughts on the office holiday party in the United States (available here, here and here.)  But by and large, holiday parties in the United States are fairly tame -- particularly when compared with our friends in Great Britain.  Whether that's through litigation or tradition is a question for sociologists, not employment law bloggers.

When I read this story in this morning's Washington Post, I couldn't help but think to myself -- they have "medical tents" set up to deal with office holiday parties? 

Just before midnight, the well-dressed, 25-year-old financial trader arrived by ambulance at the makeshift hospital tent pitched at a train station in central London. Blood oozed from his scalp, staining his elegant pink-striped shirt.

"What happened to your head?" asked Dixie Dean, an emergency care specialist with the London Ambulance Service, as she wrapped gauze around his head and checked for a skull fracture.

"I don't remember," said the dazed man. He was the latest injured drunk this busy night in the medical tent set up to care for casualties of the infamous British office party.

In many parts of the world, companies hold Christmas parties -- or holiday, year-end bashes -- for employees. But in Britain, the gatherings have become a particularly potent institution, legendary for massive booze consumption that leads to fistfights, firings and spur-of-the-blurry-moment indiscretions in boardrooms and parking lots.

Dean compared the Christmas season in Britain to New Year's Eve in New York -- except that here, the binges run nightly for two solid weeks leading up to Dec. 25.

Whatever anyone may think of our nation's employment laws, it seems a step up in civilization to have put these types of affairs in our rear-view mirrors.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

After my two-part series of posts on office holiday parties (here and here), I thought I would pass along a more humorous post about holiday parties.  A temporary employment firm has compiled its list of the most outrageous holiday party hijinks. 

Creative Group, a temporary employment firm focused on the advertising, marketing and creative fields, recently surveyed industry executives about the most off-the-wall holiday party antics they had witnessed. 

Among them:

• “One colleague set another’s wig on fire while it was on her head.”
• “Someone dumped Gatorade on the boss.”
• “Someone jumped into a bowl of Jell-O.”

Anyone care to share any favorite stories of holiday parties gone amiss?

(H/T: Hartford Business Journal)

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Yesterday, I talked about issue spotting for holiday parties.  But what are some pro-active steps an employer can take? Well, there is no "one size fits all" approach.  Here are some suggestions to ponder that may fit for a particular employer.

To Drink or Not to Drink

• Since alcohol can be tied to many of the issues arising from the holiday party, the obvious suggestion is to not serve alcohol.  If you do, consider sending a message related to the holiday party that excessive drinking will not be tolerated. 
  
• Schedule the event at a restaurant or bar whose liability insurance would cover the event. 
  
• Arrange to have alternate transportation available to guests who do drink too much.  Offering a taxi or car service home is much cheaper than having to deal with an employee's car accident later on. 
• Use a cash bar or tickets that limit the number of drinks to which each employee is entitled. An open bar -- particularly before it turns into a cash bar -- only invites binge drinking.
• Consider serving just beer and wine; if your party serves tequila shots, for example, there will tend to be faster drinking than if done through beer and wine. 
• Do not skimp on food. There can be a tendency to under order for appetizers, etc, for cost purposes. However, high-protein foods, like cheese and meats, help slow the absorption of alcohol and keep guests from drinking on an empty stomach. 
• Make sure the people serving alcohol know that they can refuse service to anyone who appears intoxicated.  Designate some company employees (human resources, perhaps) to act as "scanners" to scan the crowd occasionally and make sure guests are behaving appropriately. 

Other Than Alcohol...

• Invite spouses and family members, or clients or customers. Their presence will encourage employees to be on their best behavior and may minimize the chances of excessive drinking and inappropriate sexual conduct.
• Daytime (lunch) events work better than night events.  Consider linking it to another activity so the party (and drinking) isn't the sole focus. 
• Attendance at the party should be strictly voluntary and managers should be instructed not to suggest that  attendance will benefit a person’s standing within the company.
• To address any religious considerations of employees, consider scheduling the party during the week (Monday through Thursday).  Similarly, the holiday party should be just that -- a holiday party -- and not tied to any particular religion.  
• Lastly, if any complaints (of sexual harassment or otherwise) are made at or after the party, the employer should take prompt, effective steps to address the complaint.  If an employee who complains at a party about inappropriate behavior, it may be necessary to address the issue then and there.

There are, of course, countless other ways to reinvent the holiday party.  I'm certainly not advocating eliminating it.  But being a little more cautious about the party helps keep a fun occasion from turning into a hangover headache.

As always, employers who have specific legal questions, should seek the appropriate legal counsel. The ideas listed above are just some examples of issues for employers to consider as they approach their holiday party. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks (1)

With the Office Holiday Party scene upon us, most articles, like this one in the New York Times tend to point out the obvious risks associated with them -- sexual harassment.  In my view, if employers are not aware that mixing alcohol with co-workers in a festive setting can be a recipe for harassment claims, that employer probably has larger HR issues than just those arising at the holiday party.  

So, for human resource professionals and in-house counsel, what are some other issues for employers to spot and be aware of?  They fall into two large categories, both of which, not surprisingly, may relate to alcohol.

• Drinking and Driving
  At many holiday parties (though not all nowadays), alcohol, in one form or another, is served. Most employees will behave responsibly but experience dictates that some will get intoxicated.  If the employee then gets into an accident on the way home, will the employer may be held liable for any resulting deaths, injuries or damages to property.
  
  Until recently or so, the answer under most states’ laws generally was “no.” There are some courts, though, that are finding legal theories under which employers may be held responsible for injuries caused by an employee who drinks at a business function, such as an office party and then drives while under the influence.  Other times, these claims are handled under "dram shop" laws which imposes liability on a commercial establishment for selling liquor to an intoxicated person. 
  
  The law varies greatly from state to state and because of cross-border issues between New York and Connecticut, it would be irresponsible to provide a bright line test in those states.  Rather, employers with offices nationwide should be aware that some courts have extended the social host theory to employers and imposed “business host” liability. Connecticut may be skeptical of such claims.  Nevertheless, an employer ought to be concerned about being liable for injuries to third persons caused by an employee who gets drunk at an employer function and then drives.  For this reason, putting limits on alcohol being served may be a good tool for the employer to use at such parties.
  
  
• Workers’ Compensation Claims
  Suppose a drunk employee falls down while doing the Cha-Cha Slide, or takes a tumble  down the stairs, will workers compensation apply? Some workers’ compensation laws impose liability on employers for injuries to employees which arise out of and in the course of their employment, without regard to the fault of the injured employee. Some states, like Connecticut, have an exception -- an employer may not liable for compensation when the employee's injury was caused by the employee's voluntary intoxication.  Conn. Gen. Stat. 31-284(a). 
  
  Of course, this is a mixed blessing for an employer.  If the employee is not covered by workers compensation, then the employee may still try a cause of action against the employer for negligence or another common law claim.
  

In a followup post, I comment on some ideas that address these issues.

And last, but not least, if any of your employees are dancing like this classic video, well, perhaps cutting down on alcohol AND dancing at your holiday party may be in order.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (1)