Terminated employees @ Holiday Party?!

We hold a "post-Holiday" party for our employees each January at an off-site location (hotel). Employees and their spouse or one guest are invited to the party at no cost to them. A meal and DJ are provided as well as fun games for small cash prizes. We hear that an ex-employee (who we terminated for falling asleep at work, multiple times)will be a guest of a current employee. We would hope that the current employee would have better judgement. However, as a business do we have the right to say that no ex-employees are allowed to attend as a guest or would that be considered discrimination?

We had this circumstance before at a summer picnic that was planned, but the picnic got cancelled so we didn't have to address it (in that case the ex-employee had been terminated due to sexual harrassment). Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

Comments

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  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-04-02 AT 06:57PM (CST)[/font][p]No, there would be no discrimination issue under civil rights laws.

    But why even go there?

    If you tell employees that they can invite one guest, then let it be that way. You don't want to be deciding which guest is worthy and which isn't. If an employee invited a an ex-convict who is a friend, would you bar him from coming? What would you tell the employee? Is the issue the fact that the indiviudal is a FORMER employee or was discharged for wrongdoing or did something of which the employer does not approve?

    If the former, do you really want to give a message to long term emplyees who retire or leave under pleasant circumstances that they are not welcome at a compnay "get-together for the holidays" that is otherwise available to individuals who have NO connection (other than a friend) to the company?

    If the latter, let's say an employee who is currently suspended as disciplinary action a serious issue such as sexual harassment or being intoxicated on the job shows up? Do you exclude that employee from attending?

    As long as your criterion is an employee can invite a guest, then that's the way it should be. Or avoid the problem by limiting the attendeees to the employee and his or her spouse (or do you want to say "significant others" and make a statement on the morality aspects involved with that?).
  • Thank you for your response. Basically that's the route we thought we needed to take so we didn't have to get involved in any other issues such as "significant other" or employees currently on "probation leave".
  • i am not so sure...a holiday party off premises is no different than a holiday party on premises...you would not want an ex-amployee to come back to work...you fired him in the first place because he was a bad example as an employee...i am not saying you should make a big deal of it,but depending on why the ex-amployee got fired you may want to bar the door as to him or her ...regards from texas,mike maslanka
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-05-02 AT 11:52PM (CST)[/font][p]I agree with you to the extent that there very well may be some types of causes for discharge that say "we don't EVER want to see you around here again in any way, shape or form or in any company-sponsored event that isn't open to the general public." However, I don't think that falling asleep on the job is one. I'm thinking of situations where perhaps the employee stole money (and as a settlement, the company did not file a police report) or some other "socially unconscionable" behavior. But, I think then that would require that every person who is not an employee be identified as a guest and be "cleared" in advance.
  • We have this same situation where we have a "post" holiday party. There is one individual (a former employee) who seems to show up at every event that our practice sponsors. She was not terminated, but she was not a good employee and we would not rehire her. This same employee seems to know everything that goes on in our practice. Her presence was making some of her former employees uncomfortable. We had to implement a policy that our party was for employee/spouse or significant other. Any former employee/retiree/guest would have to be invited by invitation only. We want our party to be a fun and comfortable event for everyone and we also pay a substantial amount of money per person for the attendees.

    I don't know if this helps, but it seems to have worked for us.


  • I agree with Mike. Gernerally, persons you fire are persona-non-grata on premises. I say extend the same curtesy off premises. Why have someone at an event your employer is shelling out for who may bad mouth the employer?
  • I also agree with Mike. I've run into this situation numerous times.
    A current employee was going to bring a former employee (that I fired) as a guest to this year's Holiday Party. Nothing can be done in that instance. Just poor judgment on the part of the current employee. The former employee did not show up. We do invite former employees to our Holiday Party. However, I look at the Holiday Party list every year and if a former employee has badmouthed us they are not invited.
    Happy New Year!
    Sharon K.
  • I believe that you should take the same position that even businesses serving the public take, which is we reserve the right to refuse anyone. The suggestion posted above that you have everyone sign up and list the name of their guest is a good one. You may want to do name tags for everyone as the reason for needing the guest's name. Then you can go to any person that has invited an inappropriate guest before the party and tell him/her that person is not welcome at the party. It will save you an unpleasant scene at the party. This is no different than barring some former employees from your premises and not others.

    As an additional note, you might not want to have a blanket policy that says spouses and significant others are permitted. We had one VP (female) whose husband got so drunk at our holiday party that he was reaching down some of the women's dresses (that worked for her) and "gringing" against them when he danced with them. I talked with her and told her that she was responsible for his behavior and that if it happened again, he would be barred from attending company functions. Your handbook should have a personal conduct policy to cover people's behavior while at company functions and make them responsible for their guest's behavior as well. Under the same policy, we barred the wife of an employee from attending further company functions when we saw her stealing beers from the hotel's cash bar when the bartender was busy with the other employees. Strange, but true! I'll be glad to send you the personal conduct language for your handbook if you like.

    Margaret Morford
    theHRedge
    615-371-8200
    [email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
    [url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
  • the only think i would add to margaret's thoughtful post is that the law is recognizing that some situations---even though not occuring at the workplace---involve workplace proxies....so,the 9th circuit said that a saleswoman,whose job required her to entertain clients outside the workplace, was covered by the company's sexual harassment policy ,when she claimed to have been raped by a client at his home(we have an article in the december texas employment law letter on this,"your worst nightmare:the harassing customer")...and the 2nd circuit,just the other day,said that a flight attendant for delta,who claimed to have been attacked by a co-worker while on a layover in italy,could sue for sexual harassment---the airline rented the block of rooms,and it was part of the job to stay together while on long trips...the bottom line:your workplace is MORE than just your workplace...regards from the lone star state,mike maslanka
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