The Christmas Party edition: Don’t let it get too silly this silly season
Posted on December 11, 2014
If it hasn't already been held, then surely your work Christmas party is just around the corner. While it’s an opportunity for employees to celebrate the year that has been and to get into the festive spirit, employers need to be mindful not to put their staff at risk.
An incident at your work Christmas party will not only put a dampener on the event, but it may also incur legal and financial liability.
We have previously written about concerns around bullying and harassment arising from the annual work Christmas party. In this alert we look at what can happen if someone is injured during the festivities.
Workers compensation legislation provides that an injury (physical or psychological) will be deemed to arise out of the employment and be compensable where the employment is a significant contributing factor to causing the injury.
The concept of conduct in the course of employment versus private conduct was put to the test this year in the case of Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group Pty Ltd v Simon Blackwood (Workers’ Compensation Regulator) & Campbell [2014] QIRC 105. Mr Campbell made a workers compensation claim under the Queensland legislation following the death of his wife at her work Christmas party.
The deceased worked at Dan Murphy’s Noosaville in the position of Fine Wine Manager. On March 2013, being Good Friday, a “Christmas” function for staff and their families was held at The Woods on the Noosa River. The shop’s trading hours meant that the only days all staff had off were Good Friday and Christmas Day.
At around 3pm on the day of the function, the deceased and another employee asked the shop’s manager to take photographs of them running into the Noosa River. The deceased died as a result of head and neck injuries sustained by diving head first into the water.
In support of the deceased’s husband’s claim that these injuries arose in the course of employment were the following factors:
- The store manager had supported the event;
- The event had been advertised in the staff room;
- The employees raised funds to pay for food, drink and ice for the event;
- The store manager did not stop the employees from jumping into the Noosa River; and
- The store manager took no steps to direct the employees not to enter the Noosa River after observing some children of staff members swimming earlier in the day.
However, earlier decisions found that an employer will only be liable if the injury was sustained:
- By an employee while engaged in an activity in which the employer has induced or encouraged the employee to engage; or
- At and by reference to a place where the employer had induced or encouraged the employee to be.
While the Workers’ Compensation Regulator initially accepted the deceased’s husband’s claim, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (the QIRC) referred to the case of Comcare v PVYW [2013] HCA 41 where the High Court concluded that:
“… the employee makes a wholly private choice to engage in an activity which falls outside the ambit of the employer’s requirement that the employee be away from the usual ‘place’ of work. Such choices will carry their own benefits, risks and consequences which the employer is not required to be an insurer against.”
The QIRC found that the employer had not induced or encouraged the deceased to engage in the activity that she did and overturned the Worker’s Compensation Regulator’s decision.
For employers, the moral of the story is to be mindful of the festivities you put on for your employees. Whilst an employer will have a strong argument to distance itself from employees who embark on a “frolic of their own”, an employer may find itself liable for any injury suffered by an employee if it encourages or allows an activity which leads to injury. It may be a very fine line!
