Office Christmas parties are often known for getting wild. There's always that one person who has a few two many, or the colleagues who perhaps get a little too cosy and wake up the next day full of dread.
For many of us it's a laugh, we go out and we have a good time, but that culture of getting rowdy or drunk isn't everyone's cup of tea - and it's important we remember that this festive season.
Last month, an employee won a long-standing legal case against his boss after he was sacked for being 'too boring'. French consulting firm Cubik Partners dismissed the man - known only as Mr T - for being ‘insufficient professionally’ because he didn't get involved in team building activities with his workmates.
Mr T refused to go the events which often featured heavy drinking, colleagues sharing beds and simulation of sexual acts.
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Court papers showed that the team building exercises took place out of working hours including ‘weekend drinks’.
Mr T took his case to an industrial tribunal where a court sided with him, saying he “could not be blamed for his lack of integration in the fun environment”.
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With Christmas party season already here, experts say that bosses in the UK should learn from the mistakes of Mr T's bosses.
“The reason this guy refused to go these events was because they were crossing the line of appropriateness," said Kate Palmer, a HR advice and consultant at Peninsula based in Oldham.
“He said ‘I have a fundamental right to my dignity', and in his view, they weren’t dignified. There was people simulating sexual acts, there was the use of nicknames, there was people very much crossing professional boundaries and that’s why he refused to go these ‘fun event’s’.
“One lesson for companies is don’t forget when you are hosting a Christmas event for your staff, arguably you are still liable for their actions. So you need to still have some control in place, remind people it’s a work event and their with colleagues and it’s always wise to take action post event, if somebody does something, don’t just sit back and say ‘what are they like’.
"It would be ill advised to say 'just leave' the 'boring' colleagues to one side. Workplaces should recognise that different people see fun in different ways, try and be inclusive.
"If you're going out for a meal maybe make sure there is non-alcoholic drinks on offer, don't always go to the pub, maybe you want to do something that is different, maybe a nice meal."
As reported in the Mirror, a letter from Mr T’s employers cited “his disagreement with the management methods of the company and the criticism of their decisions”. Cubik Partners also claimed that he was a poor listener and difficult to work alongside.
But the Court of Cessation ruled that Mr T “could not be blamed for his lack of integration in the fun environment”. It based this also on the fact that amongst other things this meant “excessive drinking at weekends”
It ordered Cubik Partners to pay out £2,574 to the former employee.
The court said that the company couldn't make him "forcibly participate in meet-ups and weekend drinks that frequently ended up in excessive alcohol intake, harassment by colleagues who made very large quantities of alcohol available."
The "fun" events would also mean sometimes sharing a bed with colleagues after being out drinking along with "humiliating and intrusive practices regarding privacy such as simulating sexual acts." It was ruled that Mr T had a fundamental right to dignity and respect for his private life.
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