Can a company force staff to attend Christmas Party?

scd3scd4

Yep, some love the sound of their own voice. I suspect they read and reread their written replies. They are frustrated lawyers!

Maybe an honest chat with your boss but only you know them. Over the years I have had numerous bosses. The decent ones listen and find solutions, the ones that don't have found the sickness levels go up and the family emergencies suddenly increase. The turn over of staff also speaks for itself.

It says it all if you have to force people.They give themselves titles of managers. Personally they are the opposite in every way.

k3lvc

lloydy84 wrote: »

You're an idiot.

At which point you lose all credibility/assistance from people. Hopefully if your boss gives you an answer you don't like you don't treat them in the same way :eek:

pinkshoes

What an awful situation to be in.

A friend of mine has a court order set up for custody, and although she is the resident parent she is expected to stick to it to the nearest minute.

She wouldn't dare be late or cancel as he would demand it went back to court and use it against her. I guess your ex is like this?

(And yet he texted her Thursday night saying he couldn't pick the boys up from school the next day even though she wouldnt be back from work until 7pm...)

Anyway, back to the point... Clearly you are going to put your family before work and quite rightfully. I would be honest with your boss and make it clear WHY you MUST be back to work by 5pm, so are happy to drive to the event and leave at 3pm to drive back as a compromise.

If they refuse, then do you really want to work for a company that have so little regard for families? I would start looking for another job that does treat its employees like human beings rather than statistics.

jamesperrett

lloydy84 wrote: »

But other people come here accusing me of lying (as if somehow I get a kick out of posting on MSE boards asking questions),

There's a history of people coming up with strange dilemmas on this forum which then turn out to be works of fiction so people are more suspicious than perhaps they were a few years ago. Some of these posts have even made the weekly newsletter - almost as if the forum management team is encouraging this trolling.

moneyistooshorttomention

....and am I the only one thinking "If they managed to force me into going this party - that would backfire on them - as I would give them a letter spelling out what my meal was to be like".

Well - I do eat in a way that is vegetarian, genuinely healthy and everything as organic as the shops will provide.

So - yep....I would be specifying a way I genuinely do eat in:). They could put that in their pipe and smoke it - and then cater for it or have me (LOUDLY) complaining at the party how "I'm starving - there was nothing I could eat - and I did give them a letter specifying how I eat and requesting a suitable meal for me".

The whole thing this manager is after is to be able to say "Yep...my staff all went....all ate the food....all had a jolly good time".

They wouldn't get that....

TELLIT01

lloydy84 wrote: »

.......'how will you afford things if you have no job?' and 'are you really willing to risk your employment over this? How will you support your children then? and ' If you're happy to have no job and join the queue for a tribunal to find out then fair enough.'

Where does this even come from? Can you post anything to me where I have even implied that I would risk my job or do anything that will cause me to have a disciplinary?

All that is being said in those responses is that if you refuse to go there is the potential for disciplinary action and/or job loss. It's not a direct reply to the question but does raise a warning about risk which you possibly hadn't considered.
The company can't physically drag staff onto the coach, so the basic answer would simply be an unqualified "No" but wouldn't outline the possible consequences of refusing to attend.