{"id":2751,"date":"2019-12-06T14:54:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T04:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2021\/09\/06\/managing-misconduct-over-the-holidays\/"},"modified":"2021-09-11T07:49:43","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T21:49:43","slug":"managing-misconduct-over-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2019\/12\/06\/managing-misconduct-over-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing Misconduct over the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"
Vince Scopelliti – Wednesday, December 18, 2019<\/div>\n
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The festive season is fraught with concern for employers. With many staff on leave and those who remain letting their proverbial hair down (often with a beverage or three!) the holiday period can be a minefield.<\/p>\n

We take a look at when employees are still considered to be “at work”, define misconduct and provide some tips for dealing with poor behaviour in the workplace over the holidays.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When are employees still ‘at work’?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A workplace is where people perform their jobs, undertaking their contracted hours of work. However, a work function held outside the office and outside regular business hours, is considered to be an extension of the workplace.<\/p>\n

A general rule of thumb is, that if an event is organised and paid for by an employer, it’s officially sanctioned. Liability therefore remains with the employer for any misconduct that occurs. This is likely to be the case, regardless of how many pre-event warnings have been issued to staff, and how many times staff have been reminded of the applicable policies and codes of conduct.<\/p>\n

It is also important to keep in mind that employers may bear third party liability, to family members who attend a staff Christmas party, functions held in public venues (where people other than staff could get injured) and in circumstances where a worker causes injury to another person, when leaving an event in a state of intoxication.<\/p>\n

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defining misconduct in the workplace<\/h3>\n
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Misconduct over the holiday period generally refers to inappropriate behaviour such as discrimination, workplace harassment and bullying, or sexual harassment. This type of behaviour is often associated with the Christmas party, where people have consumed alcohol and have lowered inhibitions.<\/p>\n

It is important for employers to remember that the definition of sexual harassment, for example, includes but is not limited to, conduct of a sexual nature which is offensive, humiliating or embarrassing to the person complaining of the behaviour. Crucially, it is irrelevant if the behaviour was intended to offend – it is the opinion of the “victim” and not the “perpetrator” which is relevant.<\/p>\n

Other types of misconduct include staff pulling “sickies” due to hangovers, or poor behaviour such as sharing inappropriate stories or having general disagreements between co-workers boil over.<\/p>\n

why is there a prevalence of misconduct over the holidays?<\/h3>\n
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As noted, there is often an increased incidence of misconduct in circumstances where staff are consuming (potentially excessive) amounts of alcohol and otherwise lowering inhibitions.<\/p>\n

There is also a general misapprehension amongst employees to the effect that a Christmas party is not considered to be related to employment – which is not the case.<\/p>\n

This is part of the reason why employers should also give serious consideration as to whether they wish to gift alcohol, either to their staff or to clients or business associates. While alcohol is a convenient and often appreciated gift, it can create an impression that an employer is not concerned about responsible service of alcohol.<\/p>\n

mitigating the risk of misconduct<\/h3>\n
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There are numerous ways that employers can mitigate the risk of misconduct during the holidays.<\/p>\n

Before a function, employers should take steps to remind staff (generally via an email) that it is to be treated as a workplace event, and therefore the usual policies and procedures remain in place. It is also timely to recirculate documents such as code of conduct, sexual harassment or bullying policies and procedures.<\/p>\n

During the work function, employers should consider ensuring that at least one (if not more) senior personnel are in a position to remind staff who have over-consumed alcohol, that they should stop drinking and\/or perhaps even leave the event.<\/p>\n

Similarly, companies should ensure that there are sufficient taxi vouchers or other safe methods of transport home, for all employees who want them. This ensures that the business cannot be responsible for any employees who injure themselves and\/or others on the way from the party.<\/p>\n

If allegations of misconduct do arise from a Christmas function, employers must ensure that due process and fair procedures are implemented. This includes taking into account the fact that staff may be on leave or have applied to be on leave.<\/p>\n

Although the investigative process should not be unnecessarily drawn out, staff who have pre-booked leave, should not be prejudiced by the fact that they are unavailable at that time of year. They should have the same opportunity to\u00a0prepare a response to allegations as at any other time of year.<\/p>\n

Managing staff and keeping in touch with staff over a quieter holiday period can be a challenge. If you need assistance reviewing and managing staff behaviour in your workplace, WISE Workplace provides expert external investigation services to meet your needs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Content retrieved from: http:\/\/www.wiseworkplace.com.au\/_blog\/WISE_Blog\/post\/managing-misconduct-over-the-holidays\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vince Scopelliti – Wednesday, December 18, 2019 The festive season is fraught with concern for employers. With many staff on leave and those who remain letting their proverbial hair down (often with a beverage or three!) the holiday period can be a minefield. We take a look at when employees are still considered to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[118,192,106,119,105],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}