Time for a (Christmas) party

Company parties can have consequences

Christmas parties can go merrily, but conflicts between colleagues can result in employment-related sanctions. In one case, an employee was summarily dismissed after he verbally threatened and physically abused his manager. The incident happened at the company’s Christmas dinner, where the employee had consumed a lot of alcohol and started to act inappropriately toward female colleagues. The employee started to point a laser pointer toward the colleagues and point it in a sexual way. When the manager tried to intervene, the employee attacked him. The Labour Court found that the summary dismissal of the violent employee was justified.

In a similar case, things also went completely wrong at a company event where an employee punched his manager in the face. During the party, the employee found that the manager was aggressive. Later, the two of them found themselves in the bathroom, where the employee suddenly thought the manager would punch him. In self-defence, the employee punched the manager twice. However, the court found that the manager had fixed his fly, so the punches came as a complete surprise. The court found that a summary dismissal of the employee was justified. The fact that the party was held outside normal working hours did not matter as the incident was employment-related.

Inappropriate behaviour at the Christmas Party

 Company parties can be merry, but the employees' advances towards each other can have consequences for their employment. For example, a CEO was found guilty of sexual harassment after he touched an employee’s thigh and put his hand between her legs at a company Christmas party. The employee resigned shortly afterwards because she felt bad about the situation. The court ordered the company to pay the employee SEK 50,000 in discrimination compensation.

IUNO’s opinion

With these wise words, we encourage everyone to take care of each other this jolly season. We wish you a good Christmas party.