Am I legally liable for the behaviour of my employees at our Christmas party?

It is important to realise that a work’s Christmas party is a work-related event and it should be treated as an extension of the workplace.

So, you can be legally liable for the behaviour of members of staff whilst at a Christmas party. The best way to look after your staff and protect your business against legal action is by taking steps before the party to try to limit or prevent poor behaviour. By doing this, you are at least giving your business a good defence in the event that an employee misbehaves or anyone tries to make a claim against you.

Start with your policies

A good starting point is to have clear policies in place which will protect your business if things go wrong. Make sure that you have a detailed disciplinary procedure in place which gives examples of misconduct and gross misconduct and make sure your staff are aware of the procedure. Ensure that you have an equality and diversity policy, an anti-bullying policy, a social media policy and a data protection policy in place and make sure that staff are familiar with these too. By implementing these policies you will be sending your staff a clear signal about the standards of conduct you expect from them, and it will be much easier for you to take action to enforce your standards if you ever need to.

Annual training on your policies (and training at the point of induction) is an important way of protecting your business for so many reasons, and could be particularly well-timed if given in November or December.

Clear communication

It is crucial that your staff understand what is expected of them at the party. Of course, you want your staff to have fun and not feel that their every move is being judged, so it is understandable that you do not want to sit your staff down on the morning of the Christmas party and ask them all to read the disciplinary procedure – but it would be a good idea to give a friendly reminder to staff a week or two before the event to say that, whilst you want everyone to have a great time, they should remember that is it still a work event, and they are expected to behave appropriately. You might want to remind them as to the acceptable use of social media at this point too.

Practical steps

There are other more practical steps that you could think about taking to minimise the risk of things getting out of hand. Most obviously, you could think about organising a group event which doesn’t involve any (or perhaps just a little) alcohol – ice-skating, go-karting, bowling, escape rooms could all be good options (although see below regarding making sure your event is inclusive).  

If your party is at your office, then you can control the amount of alcohol on the premises – or if you are at a restaurant or hotel, consider limiting the money behind the bar, or specify to bar staff that no-one should be served any cocktails or doubles on your tab.

Anything else?

It’s not just the actions of your staff that you need to think about, you also need to consider whether your decisions could result in a claim against you in the future. It’s very important that when planning your Christmas party you give thought to the inclusivity of the event. For example, if you have any disabled staff, you should ensure that the venue is accessible to them or any activity is suitable for them. Not everyone wants to or can drink alcohol, so you should ensure that there are plenty of non-alcoholic options for those who aren’t drinking. Also be mindful that not everyone celebrates Christmas, so be careful not to arrange events which might exclude those employees from any festivities. Finally, make sure that you invite all employees to your event, even if they are absent or on family leave (and even if you know they are unlikely to come), and if your event is outside of work hours, make sure your staff know that their attendance is very welcome, but not obligatory.

If you would like help putting together a staff handbook tailored to the specific needs of your business and which include all of the policies listed above, please contact our employment law department for a no-obligation chat. We can also help with ongoing HR support through our Harrowells Assist service, giving you access to expert legal advice whenever you need it.