With office Christmas parties in full swing, an article on Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s website has highlighted a recent case in a French appeal court and used the ruling to raise a point as to the extent to which employers can encourage or require employees to attend out of office events.
The Plaintiff, known only as Mr T, worked for a Paris-based management consultancy firm, Cubik Partners, as an adviser. He had joined the firm in 2011 and was promoted to director three years later. However, in 2015 he was dismissed on grounds of “professional inadequacy” and also - according to reports - accused of being a poor listener and difficult to work with.
Mr T’s reluctance to be part of the firms ‘team-building’ events and activities was seen by his employer as a lack of team spirit but Mr T contended that the out of office activities centred on the consumption of alcohol and excessive behaviour. He told France’s highest court - the Court of Cassation - that he was entitled to “refuse company policy based on incitement to partake in various excesses” and argued that he had a “right to be boring”.
The court agreed with Mr T’s argument, finding that staff at the company often engaged in “humiliating and intrusive practices” and that not all employees could be expected to get involved in such forms of “excess and misconduct”. The court ruled that these practices violated his “fundamental right to dignity and respect of private life” and that he was exercising his “freedom of expression.”
Finding in Mr T’s favour, the Court of Cassation awarded him €3,000 and a decision on whether he is entitled to €461,000 in damages will be made later.
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s article advises that “the closer the “work” nature of an event, the more important it is for an employee to attend, and the more likely it is for an employer to expect attendance."
However, it continues that:
“Mr T’s case was unusual both in the alcohol-based nature of the activities and the open insistence of the employer to attend, but UK employers should take note.
Employees do have the right not to party, and it is ill-advised to go any further than encouragement. Attendance at events such as after work drinks, Christmas parties and team quizzes/lunches might be desirable, but for various reasons employers should be very cautious about being seen as coercing employees into attending, or implying that non-attendance might be career-limiting.”
