Time to water down the festive spirit

Employers should either tone down their Christmas parties or learn to cope with the resulting fights, sexual harassment, vandalism and drug abuse when festivities get out of hand, according to experts in employment law.

It is no good supplying your employees with copious amounts of free drink and then disciplining them for outrageous behaviour afterwards, according to Eversheds, the solicitors.

One pair of workers, who virtually had sexual intercourse in front of their colleagues, won an unfair dismissal case because the management had tolerated similar exhibitions in the past, said Trish Embley, an employment law specialist at Eversheds.

This classic case involved Dixons, the electrical chain, which dismissed two of its area managers in London for a "lewd act", involving simulated sex.

An Employment Appeals Tribunal found that the two men had been unlawfully sacked because there had been a history of "turns in bad taste" at company functions. The tribunal decided that new rules of conduct had not been properly communicated to Dixons staff prior to the party.

Ms Embley warned employers that tribunals "take a dim view" of companies encouraging staff to let their hair down and then trying to discipline them afterwards.

Employers should be particularly wary of providing free drink. Tribunals would always take such a facility into account as a mitigating circumstance when assessing whether the employee's behaviour justified dismissal.

She said that her caseload in the early months of the year tended to be dominated with the aftermath of Christmas festivities which got out of hand. Her advice to companies was to inform staff about the kind of behaviour that was expected of them and ensure that management realised they had a duty to keep matters under control at the time.

Ms Embley, who last night enjoyed her own firm's Christmas party, said: "It is perfectly all right for people to get a bit silly and a bit tiddly, but matters should not be allowed to go to far."