Christmas Party Shenanigans: How to prevent things from getting out of hand and how to handle the fallout if things do

December’s HR Breakfast Club meeting featured a discussion about issues that can arise at Christmas parties and End of Year work celebrations, facilitated by Senior Associate Sarah Ozanne. We have shared a general outline of the topics discussed below.

Sarah began the discussion by defining what constitutes a work function, and the obligations of employees and employers at these functions.

Following this, Sarah provided insight into the liability of employers in relation to workplace functions, highlighting examples and case law to show areas where the liability of employers can extend to, and the reasonable boundaries of where an employer’s responsibility ends.

Sarah then provided a detailed account of how to organise a Christmas Party, and covered topics including;

• Party planning – with a discussion around themes and party venues, behaviour reminder emails, adequate service of drinks and food; and
• Appropriate conduct at the party.

Sarah provided examples when discussing liability and the responsibilities of employers for work functions. Of the examples, the cases of Vai v ALDI Stores [2018] FWC 4118 and Keenan v Leighton Boral Amey NSW Pty Ltd [2015] FWC 3156 were discussed in greater detail to highlight the differences between the two factual situations and the two results in relation to the scope of the employer’s duties.

Sarah then provided guidance on how to manage incidents that occur at workplace functions and parties. This was followed by a discussion surrounding some hypothetical scenarios.

Sarah rounded out the presentation with an extract from a recent ABC News article which highlighted that issues stemming from workplace functions continue to exist and can cause headaches for all employers.

If you are an HR professional and would like to attend our future HR Breakfast Club forums, please visit our monthly forum page and register to attend. The HR Breakfast Club will return in 2025, with the first meeting on 21 February, where Special Counsel Bill Pardy will address the topic of ‘WHS and Psychosocial Risk Management’.

If you have any questions or queries about the information in this summary, or if you are experiencing any issues and need advice, please contact the BAL Lawyers Employment & Investigations team on 02 6274 0999.