A festive reminder of your responsibilities as an employer

During the festive season, colleagues come together to celebrate the achievements of the past year at Christmas parties. With that being said, it should be remembered that office parties are an extension of the workplace. This means that employers may be held vicariously liable for the acts of their employees outside of the workplace.

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill recently received Royal Assent and will come into force in October next year. The Bill imposes a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment. While this means that employers are no longer required to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment, merely “reasonable steps”, employers should still take caution.

Earlier this year, a bedroom and kitchen design company in Northern Ireland was found liable for an employee sexually harassing a colleague at a Christmas party. The employment tribunal found that the employer had failed to put in place any guidelines for employees relating to expected standards of behaviour or the consumption of alcohol. Furthermore, the most senior person present was not formally delegated responsibility for supervising the event. The tribunal also found that the employer had failed to take action to prevent victimisation after it became known that the individual had formally raised a grievance.

With this in mind employers should:

• remind staff of the standards of acceptable behaviour at all social events, including those hosted by clients and business contacts, and that inappropriate behaviour will be dealt with under the disciplinary procedure;
• refer to all relevant staff policies, such as bullying and harassment, drugs and alcohol, and social media;
• encourage staff to be mindful of their alcohol consumption and remind them that being under the influence of alcohol will not be considered a mitigating factor;
• remind employees to consider travel arrangements in advance and avoid drink-drinking;
• ensure senior members of staff are designated responsibility for supervising the event; and
• if an employee reports an issue regarding an incident at a social event, ensure that the matter is taken seriously and investigated promptly.

Contact our employment law solicitors today

If you have any questions regarding any of the issues raised in this article, please do not hesitate to contact our specialist Employment Law team by using our online enquiry form or by calling 0330 191 5713.