Does this count as a work event?

catflea

Last night we had a team night out for work. This consisted of a restuarant and a private room booked in a kareoke bar. Both sets of venues were booked using the company name and all attendees were employees of the company.

Towards the end of the night we then moved on to an unbooked venue.

During the course of the night events transpired which left me very angry and very upset. I dont wish to go into too many details regarding this.

What I want to know if this could be seen as a work function? I'm seriously considering raising a grievance....

InsideInsurance

I think you really need to give at least a hint at the severity of the incident. The more serious the issue the more likely it will be considered something to be dealt with by the company.

nelly12

I believe that precedent has been set before and that in a court of law this can be classed as still being at work. I know of an incident where someone was sacked as their behaviour brought the companies name into disrepute and person went as far as court claiming unfair dismissal as it was outside of work hours. Court ruled in the companies favour. Will try and find a link to the news story.

catflea

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I think you really need to give at least a hint at the severity of the incident. The more serious the issue the more likely it will be considered something to be dealt with by the company.

The incident does have a quite severe implication in terms of the companies diversity policy and is considered as being abuse. So it would certainly be dealt with at a formal written warning level if it had happened within the office space.

heretolearn_2

You don't seem clear on whether this was a company event, or something that an employee booked independently and just used the company name for convenience.

A company event: organised officially by the company itself - they know of the event, have usually paid it, and it's been organised by an employee on the instructions/approval of the boss. The firm has some responsibilities here.

Not a company event: someone thought 'oh wouldn't it be fun to all have a night out together, organised it really as a personal event and just used the company name to book under for simplicity or because they weren't really thinking about it'. This is nothing to do with the firm, it's just a bunch of workmates choosing to go out together, so the firm has no responsibilities.

I used to work at a very sociable place - the firm would organise something every couple of months, and a group of us who worked together would also organise something for ourselves quite regularly. We never confused the two. I think you need to ask the person who organised it - was it an official works do, or did they just organise it for themselves.

SarEl

Any conduct outside work may result in a disciplinary if the impact of such could be such as to damage the reputation of the employer or make working relationships untenable. Whether it is work related activity or not is not relevant - it is what impact the bahaviour or conduct may have on teh workplace, colleagues, or the employer (or indeed, clients).

catflea

Thank you heretolearn. That was the kind of information specific information I was looking for.

I suspect that it would not be counted as a work function on the basis of what you have said. There was no company funding involved but it was organised by our team manager. This was my initial thought, but wanted to check up

Uncertain

catflea wrote: »

I suspect that it would not be counted as a work function on the basis of what you have said. There was no company funding involved but it was organised by our team manager.

I don't this this matters for the reason SarEl has explained.

There is little doubt the company COULD take action. Whether they will is another question.

heretolearn_2

Hmm yes, I was thinking of your taking action against your company, but it seems that you just want to complain about a colleague.
These are two different things. It's possible they might want to take action against your colleague but they don't have to - which is pretty much what Sar-El said.

Sambucus_Nigra

catflea wrote: »

Thank you heretolearn. That was the kind of information specific information I was looking for.

I suspect that it would not be counted as a work function on the basis of what you have said. There was no company funding involved but it was organised by our team manager. This was my initial thought, but wanted to check up

There you go - it's a work event if organised by your team manager.

Judith_W

I don't know much about the legalities, but the OP stated there were pre-booked activites and then 'we' moved on to something unbooked. I think it is relevant when the incident/s happened. If we had a team meal then some went onto the pub after, I would def say that is not part of the team function.