Christmas parties can cause more than just a few headaches. For
employers, the risks associated with Christmas celebration events
are very real as it is easy for staff to forget, in that sort of
social setting, that the usual rules around appropriate workplace
behaviour still apply.
Earlier this year, the Fair Work Commission heard an unfair
dismissal case 1 involving an intoxicated male employee
who sexually harassed other employees at a work-related function.
The harassment included persistently asking an employee for her
phone number, telling another she was a "Stuck up
b****" and saying to another "Who the f*** are
you? What do you even do here?". The intoxicated employee
also kissed another employee in an unsolicited and unprovoked
manner.
