The 12 Rules of Office Parties Your Lawyer Says To You

We don’t mean to sound like The Grinch.

We just want to make sure your holiday office party doesn’t steal the holiday spirit – and ruin your new year with unexpected legal issues.

While most of us want to think of the holiday office party as fun, joyful and a great time to get to know your co-workers, many pitfalls and problems can happen. And the hangover of a poorly planned event can last for years.

The attorneys at The Orlando Law Group can certainly review your holiday party plans but follow the 12 Rules of Holiday Parties and the advice your lawyer gives to you, you should have a jolly good time!

The first rule of office parties your lawyer says to you is to take it easy on the alcohol.

Let’s face it, spiked eggnog goes with the holidays like peas in a pod. However, more issues happen at the office holiday parties with alcohol in the mix than those without it.

This year, you could limit the number of drinks to just two per person. You could also hire a professional bartender trained to spot when an individual has had enough to drink. You could also only offer beer and wine – certainly no shots1

If you want to avoid alcohol entirely, you could also have a holiday party at lunch or provide mocktails instead of cocktails.

Having an office holiday party where the wine flows faster than the cheer can cause any company serious issues after the festivities end.

The second rule of office parties your lawyer says to you is to make it optional not mandatory.

There are a lot of steps to take if your party is mandatory because, as a mandatory event, you are now required to treat it as an actual workday. That means you’ll have to pay for employee time and ensure all other workplace protections take hold too.

If you have an optional party and are careful to not discuss business, you can use that as a defense if things happen to go awry.

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