YourNews: Notts employment lawyer warns of Christmas party perils

TOP employment lawyer Jayne Harrison from Notts-based Cleggs Solicitors is warning employers to remain vigilant ahead of staff party Christmas festivities.

The annual tribunal statistics which were published in September showed that the average award in sex discrimination cases was £85,622, race discrimination cases £14,185 and disability discrimination £21,729.

With the Christmas party season in full swing, Jayne said employers should take precautions to provide equal opportunities and discrimination training to avoid a potentially costly legal proceeding.

She said: “Many employers tend to shy away from these topics but it is vital they don’t and especially at this time of year. From experience, I have found that most employers don’t know that they can be liable for their employees’ actions even if they were done without the employer’s knowledge.”

Last month, The High Court ruled on a high profile employment law case – Bellman v Northampton Recruitment Ltd. A sales manager claimed to have been left brain damaged after his boss punched him twice at an office Christmas party. He battled for up to £1million in compensation.

Jayne said: “The High Court recently ruled that a company was not vicariously liable for the assault by one of its directors on an employee following a company Christmas party.

“Although the assault was provoked by a heated discussion about a work matter, and occurred in the presence of employees in a hotel bar to which they had gone after the party, the High Court was satisfied that a line could be drawn between the work party and the ‘impromptu drinks’, such that the latter did not occur in the course of the employment. But it should still act as a warning to employers.”

Employers have a statutory defence to discrimination cases and can avoid liability if they can show that they took all reasonable steps to prevent employees from committing a particular discriminatory act.

Jayne added: “While it helps to have an Equal Opportunities Policy, this will not be enough to make out the statutory defence.  It is essential that employers take practical steps to implement the policy, which means that in order to rely on the reasonable steps of defence employers need to do the following;

• Put in place and implement an equal opportunities policy (and potentially an anti-harassment and bullying policy) and review these policies as appropriate.
• Make all employees aware of the policies and their implications.
• Provide training for managers and supervisors on equal opportunities and harassment issues.
• Take steps to deal effectively with complaints, including taking appropriate disciplinary action against employees who breach the relevant policies.”

Cleggs Solicitors offers bespoke training for organisations in the workplace on equal opportunities and dealing with bullying and harassment at work. A discounted rate applies for businesses that book training in December for delivery in 2016 or 2017.

For more information please contact Jayne Harrison at Cleggs Solicitors on jayneh@cleggssolicitors.com for more information.