Employee Parties

By Walter J. Liszka, Esq.

A little planning goes a long way in minimizing company liability at employee parties. Also, identifying potential problem areas and devising effective solutions will help to assure a more enjoyable time for everyone involved. Following are a few suggestions for minimizing the headaches and the legal liability associated with employee parties:

• Review pertinent laws. Three key areas to examine are workers’ compensation law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other discrimination laws. Your business may have some form of workers’ compensation liability if employees are required to attend the party or the party is held on company premises. Managers should be mindful of ADA accessibility issues when planning employee parties. Finally, discrimination issues may arise in connection with party entertainment. Assure that entertainment has a broad–based appeal and does not offend any minority or ethnic group at the party.
• Hold the party off site in a commercial location. This is perhaps the single most effective way to limit your liability. Also, if alcohol is served and the party is held off site, you avoid the danger of sending employees a "mixed message" about alcohol in the workplace.
• Make attendance voluntary. If the company requires employees to attend, holds a party on company premises or pays employees to attend the party, the company faces greater potential liability should some type of injury result.
• Communicate your expectations to employees. Be sure that employees understand this is a social occasion and that they are not "on the clock" during the party.
• Make it clear to employees who is invited. You may want to allow employees to invite spouses or dates.
• If alcohol is to be served, remind employees to drink responsibly. Also, let employees know that excessive alcohol consumption will not be tolerated.
• Rethink your approach on alcohol. Provide plenty of non–alcoholic beverages and food to dilute the effects of alcohol. You may want to limit alcohol to beer and wine (which have a lower alcohol content than "hard liquor"). Another approach is to serve alcohol only during designated times or use some form of a "drink ticket" system to limit employee consumption.
• Hold the party during the week. If alcohol is served, people are less likely to consume excessive amounts of alcohol when the party is held on a week night.
• Establish serving guidelines. If alcohol is to be served, send a letter to the establishment where the party will be held with instructions that alcohol should not be served to anyone who appears to be intoxicated.
• Provide monitors and backup transportation. Arrange for someone, on behalf of the company, to monitor the party and identify anyone who is noticeably intoxicated. The monitor should see to it that such employees do not drive home, and make sure that noticeably intoxicated employees use backup transportation provided by the company.

Posted 10/9/1997