Are You Liable For The Behavior Of Drunk Employees At An Office Party?
The classic office Christmas party is the source of many alcohol-fueled nightmare stories, but this sort of behavior can happen any time there is an office party combined with alcohol. The holidays aren't the only time your company might allow everyone to celebrate something with a meal and drinks on the company's tab. If that's what your company has been doing, you need to contact your commercial insurance agent now. If you don't have certain policies and don't take certain steps, you could find that your company has to pay out a lot of money if something goes wrong.
The Closer the Source, the More You're Liable
Social host laws and similar legislation vary between states, but in most cases, people who served alcohol can be considered somewhat liable for whatever happens after they serve it. The closer the source of the alcohol, the greater the chance of being ordered to pay out. So, for example, if you have an office holiday party on-site with some beer, and then someone crashes their car due to being drunk, you could be held liable. That could be a financial blow, along with being a major legal blow. But if you hold the party off-site, make attendance voluntary, tell people to buy their own alcohol, and so on, you separate yourself more and more from liability.
Commercial General Liability Is Not Always Enough
Businesses should have something called commercial general liability already in effect, but that policy is not always enough to head off issues with alcohol from office gatherings. You'll want to speak to your company's insurance agent about two policies called liquor liability (which may already be bundled into the commercial general liability, but that isn't always the case), and employment practices liability. Liquor liability sounds like what it is, protecting your company financially if someone gets drunk and makes a claim against you for "allowing" them to get drunk. Employment practices liability protects you if someone else makes a claim against you because of your employees' behavior.
Show You Tried to Prevent Problems
Laws may dictate one thing and insurance might cover some costs, but that won't necessarily stop someone from claiming that you should have done more to stop the behavior even if their case doesn't have a good chance of succeeding. It is a good idea, both in general and in terms of protecting yourself from fallout like having insurance policies canceled, to show you tried to prevent problems.
If you hold an office party off-site and allow people to buy their own alcohol, for example, arrange for a taxi or shuttle transportation option so people aren't trying to drive themselves home while drunk. Choose venues that are well-lit and that have security so that attendees can easily see who is where. Put in writing on the invitations and remind people beforehand to take it easy with the alcohol, and so on. (If this sounds like overkill, the insurance industry would like to assure you that it is not.)
Contact your insurance agent now. Just because nothing has happened at past parties doesn't mean they won't; it just means you've been lucky. Even if your employees are very responsible, have the correct types of commercial business insurance to protect your company as much as possible.