Hello, and welcome to LegalEase. Today’s topic is about company holiday parties and staying out of court.

Company holiday parties are a great way to show employee appreciation and to boost morale.  However, it is not uncommon for employers to end up in court as a result of actions that took place during company holiday parties. Let’s talk about ways to prevent lawsuits after holiday parties.

First, let’s discuss the most common lawsuits filed after company holiday parties. Can you guess the most common? Yes, harassment; primarily sexual harassment. The second most common? Drinking while driving. Now, with sexual harassment, you’ve seen or heard about the common scenario.  Everyone’s having a good time at the holiday party and a manager taps an employee on the bottom – lawsuit results. Another common  scenario  – DUI – occurs when an employee is stopped while driving home from the party and says, he/she is coming from a work event. The employee retains a  lawyer, files a lawsuit, and claims vicarious liability, which means the employee and his/ her lawyer is now claiming that the company should be responsible because the employee was coming from a work-related event. Of course, there  are arguments to make in defense of these lawsuits, but that’s after you’ve spent a lot of time and money to defend the lawsuits. We want to try to avoid company holiday related lawsuits.

Here are some tips to reduce DUI-related lawsuits:

• Don’t serve alcohol. Okay, you want to serve alcohol. How about just serving beer and wine, or limiting alcohol? You can use a ticket system where people only receive two drinks.
• Hire a professional and insured bartender that will actually refuse to serve alcohol to those who may have had too much to drink, even with a limitation on them.
• Tell your managers, they’re on duty. The managers and supervisors are still on duty at the party. This should reduce their alcohol consumption and put them in the mindset of watching their subordinates.
• Don’t have an open bar.  Limit drinks with a ticket system. Having an open bar is really not a good idea.
• Close the bar about an hour before the party ends to allow time for people to sober up.
  
  

Here are tips to reduce harassment lawsuits:

• Update your corporate policies on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination, if needed.
• Remind all employees that the company policies and procedures on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination are still in effect during the event.
• Make attendance optional.
• Have a holiday party versus a Christmas party so that no one feels excluded
• Invite spouses and significant others. This usually reduces harassment claims. People don’t flirt as much when their significant others or their spouses are nearby.

I hope these tips are helpful. The goal is to just remind all employees that this is still a company-related event, and they should maintain professionalism. If you have any questions about this topic or any other topics, please give us a call. Our link is always in the bio. Thank you for joining LegalEase.