Generally, the consumption of excess alcohol is the number one cause of a whole host of issues at staff socials and work events.

These include the following: 1. Fighting among employees; 2. Sexual harassment (there have been extreme cases involving rape); 3. Other forms of harassment/bullying; 4. Employees telling management exactly what they think of them/the business; 5. Management inadvertently making promises of pay rises; 6. Disclosure of confidential information/sensitive information such as salary details of other employees or health issues; 7. Injuries / accidents; 8. Employees being left stranded at a venue; 9. Misuse of social media or posting inappropriate content.

In order to prevent these, employers should:

1. Expressly remind staff of the expected standards of behaviour required of them prior to the event. They should make it clear that anyone who crosses the line could be disciplined. It is important that employers do apply the rules consistently and fairly. Employers can be held vicariously liable for the actions of their employees. A defence to this would be that an employer took all reasonable steps to prevent the unlawful behaviour.

2. Try to establish travel arrangements in advance, particularly if there is a risk of people walking home alone from a venue and/or being tempted to drive drunk. If possible, arrange transport

3. Think about limiting the amount of free alcohol

4. Ensure that there are non-alcoholic drinks available, particularly if there are employees who do not drink on religious grounds. The same principle will apply to food. There may be meats, for example, which certain religions cannot eat, therefore alternatives should be made available where appropriate.

5. Think about having first aid arrangements in place.

6. If the event is one which could lead to injury, such as paint balling, go karting then employers should consider requiring employees to sign a personal injury waiver (to the extent that liability can be avoided.) Employers are obliged to have Employer’s Liability Insurance in place to cover employees who are injured arising out of their employment. If a venue is used, then it should have public liability insurance that could also provide cover for any injuries and negligence on the part of the venue would have to be established. Public Liability insurance covers a business or person from claims by a third party (such as a member of the public) for negligence that has caused persons to suffer injury or illness as a result. Public Liability insurance can also provide cover in the event of damage to a third party's property.

7. An employer owes its employees a duty of care. If a case of food poisoning was caused as a result of its negligence, then the employer would be liable for any personal injuries caused by the food poisoning. If it was caused by an external caterer or venue, then the employer could try to hold them liable. An employer should take all reasonable steps to prevent a drunk employee from driving and there could potentially be legal consequences if it knowingly allowed a drunk employee to drive, particularly from an event organised by it.

What is employer liability in relation to socialising within office hours / out of hours?

The issue is whether something is deemed to have taken place ‘during the course of employment’. There is a raft of case law on this point and each case must be decided on its own facts.

Often, it will be plainly obvious. Generally, if it is an event organised by an employer and under the employer’s control, then it will be deemed to be ‘during the course of employment’, even if outside normal working hours.

An obvious grey area is where there has been an organised event, which has ended, but a number of employees have then gone on to a different venue.

It would have to be decided on the facts whether it could still be deemed to be during the course of employment. For example, if the majority had moved on, with management too and a business credit card had been used to set up a tab, then this could very likely still be deemed to have been during the course of employment.