With winter upon us, ‘tis the season for holiday parties and year-end celebrations. Such festivities are a good way to encourage team camaraderie and thank employees for their hard work and a job well done. However, a few missteps and an employer may find itself facing a lawsuit, says Beth Zoller, legal editor of XpertHR, an online service that provides HR professionals with compliance tools and guidance on federal, state and municipal law. In order to minimize the potential for liability, an employer should consider these six ways to avoid legal hangovers.
1. Keep the Focus Off Religion
Your holiday party should not be religious in nature and not specifically dedicated to Christmas to avoid claims of religious discrimination and harassment. This means that an employer should consider steering clear of playing overtly religious Christmas music and avoid traditional Christmas decorations such as a manger, Christmas tree, nativity scene or mistletoe. Instead the focus should be on celebrating the winter season and the coming new year. Activities and entertainment should be festive and appropriate.
2. Avoid Making Attendance Mandatory
Attendance should not be mandatory for the holiday party as this could create wage and hour issues for employees who are nonexempt. If attendance is mandatory it may be considered working time and hourly employees may be entitled to overtime. Additionally, the party should be outside of working hours so those employees who don’t wish to participate don’t feel pressured to continue working.
3. Be Careful If Serving Alcohol
An employer should be very cautious about serving alcohol at the event because this can lead to a myriad of issues, including injuries, discrimination, harassment and inappropriate or offensive conduct. If an employer chooses to serve alcohol, it should designate a management employee or someone at the venue to monitor employees’ alcohol intake.
The employer should also limit alcohol consumption of alcohol by limiting drink tickets. It’s also important to make sure that all employees are completely sober before driving home. If an intoxicated employee leaves the event and injures a third party or damages a third party’s property, the employer may be liable for negligence.
4. Enforce Discrimination, Harassment and Employee Conduct Policies
Even though the event may be held off site and during nonworking hours, the employer should still reiterate that its policies regarding discrimination, harassment, employee dating, employee conduct and its dress code remain in effect.
5. Make Sure Supervisors Set a Good Example
It is critical to instruct all managers, supervisors and anyone else with authority to set a good example. Even though the event may be after working hours and not on the employer’s premises, management may still be responsible for enforcing policies regarding discrimination and harassment as well as the employer’s code of conduct. Management employees should be trained to identify instances of inappropriate conduct and to immediately report them to the employer or HR.
6. Respond to Complaints in a Timely Manner
An employer should act quickly if it receives a discrimination or harassment complaint, or learns of any other inappropriate conduct from an employee or supervisor. This means carefully documenting the complaint and initiating an investigation by gathering relevant evidence and interviewing all potential witnesses.
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