Office Christmas parties: Managing the aftermath of fights between employees

Wed 16th Dec 2015

Publication: People Management

Office parties should be enjoyable events for everyone concerned. However, incidents can arise which require disciplinary action to be taken against employees for inappropriate behaviour. The recent cases of MBNA v Jones and Westlake v ZSL London Zoo [2015] both involved altercations between employees at office parties.

The first case involved an incident between two employees which started with ‘banter’ but resulted in Jones punching his colleague in the face and the colleague subsequently threatening him via text message.

The employer took disciplinary action against both employees: Jones was dismissed while the colleague received a final written warning. The Employment Appeal Tribunal held…

To read the full article, please click here to go to CIPD’s website.