If a company hosts a social evening off site which involves alcohol and a ‘drunk’ staff member is injured on their way home after the event is company liable/responsible?

Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A ROI on 1 May 2012
Barry Walsh
McDowell Purcell
Issues covered:

Despite being a country noted for binge drinking, in general terms issues of an employer's legal liability in such situations rarely arise for consideration. We are not aware of any legal authority in Ireland which supports the general proposition that an employer is legally liable in these circumstances.

However, that does not meant that an employer does not owe a duty of care to employees when hosting social events, particularly where alcohol is provided by it. In most cases such a duty of care to employees can be discharged by issuing guidelines in advance to employees and through reasonable vigilance at the event itself. Such advance employer guidelines before a significant social

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Back to Q&A's This article is correct at 02/09/2015
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The information in this article is provided as part of Legal-Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article.

Barry Walsh
McDowell Purcell

The main content of this article was provided by Barry Walsh. Contact telephone number is +353 1 828 0600 or email bwalsh@mcdowellpurcell.ie

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