Company holiday parties celebrate the year’s accomplishments and help employees bond, but inappropriate behavior or accidents from excessive drinking can lead to colorful water-cooler stories and land employers in legal trouble.
If the spiced eggnog is a must at your company’s holiday event, follow these tips to reduce your legal liability:
– Serve food and plenty of non-alcoholic beverages.
– Avoid an open bar. Consider a drink-ticket system or cash bar instead.
– Hire professional bartenders who know when someone has overindulged.
– Host your event on a weeknight.
– Arrange for designated drivers or reduced fares for cabs, Uber or Lyft.
— Steve Bernstein, Fisher Phillips