FROM BAR TABS TO BAD DECISIONS – YOUR LIABILITY AS AN EMPLOYER AT YEAR-END PARTIES

Year-end season is here: speeches, selfies, shooters and at least one director on the dance floor.

Fun is good. Lawsuits, CCMA cases and insurance claims… not so much.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: If you are hosting the year-end function, paying for the venue and the drinks, the law doesn’t see “a jol” – it sees an extension of the workplace.

When a party becomes “work” in law

The minute employees are at an event because they’re employees, the legal lens changes.

You’ve now stepped into the world of:

• The Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (OHSA), which says every employer must, as far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to employees’ health.

• The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA), where section 60 makes employers potentially liable if an employee, “while at work”, harasses or discriminates against another employee and the employer fails to take reasonable steps to prevent or deal with it.

Case law on harassment (like Grobler v Naspers and Ntsabo v Real Security) has already hammered home that employers can be on the hook for harassment and hostile behavior in a work-related context, not just behind a desk.

Put simply: if it’s your invite, your venue, your bar tab, the law is likely to treat the party as “at work” for safety and harassment purposes.

Where your responsibility starts

Your responsibility starts the moment the function crosses the line from “colleagues having a private braai” to “official company event”:

• The invite goes out in the company’s name;

• You book and pay for the venue, food and drinks;

• Attendance is expected or strongly encouraged as part of the culture;

• There are speeches, awards or branding that clearly link the event to work.

From that point, the law expects you to manage foreseeable risks: intoxication, harassment, unsafe environments (stairs, pools, balconies), and how people get home. That’s what “reasonably practicable” means under OHSA – nothing crazy, just sensible adult measures you can show on paper.

You don’t have to ban alcohol or turn the party into a toolbox talk. But you do need to move from “hope it goes fine” to “we took reasonable steps”.

Where your responsibility stops

Your responsibility is not infinite – OHSA itself caps it at what is reasonably practicable.

Your “responsibility bubble” starts to shrink once:

• The official event clearly ends (you close it, bar shuts, speeches are done);

• You can show that you put sensible controls in place: ground rules, Code of Conduct and harassment rules apply, food and non-alcoholic options, some control over alcohol, clear messaging on drinking and driving, safe transport options, and managers keeping an eye on things;

• Employees then choose, in their personal capacity, to carry on elsewhere or ignore the safety measures you’ve made available.

At that point, it becomes much easier to argue that what happens next is no longer within the course and scope of employment, and that you met your OHSA and EEA duties.

But if you keep pouring drinks for someone who’s clearly over the limit, laugh it off, watch them grab their keys and drive away, a court may well decide your “work bubble” stretched a lot further than the venue door.

Drinking & driving: SA’s tolerance is tiny

This is where the law is brutally clear.

The legal limits for driving are set in section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996.

Right now, they are:

• Ordinary drivers:

  – Max 0.05 g alcohol per 100 ml blood, or

  – Max 0.24 mg alcohol per 1 000 ml breath.

• Professional drivers (PrDP – trucks, buses, taxis, etc.):

  – Max 0.02 g per 100 ml blood, or

  – Max 0.10 mg per 1 000 ml breath.

Medical and road-safety sources point out that for many people, that can be as little as one or two drinks in an hour – especially for smaller or female drivers.

Government and road-safety campaigns talk about “zero tolerance” for a reason: once you’ve had any alcohol, it’s impossible to guarantee you’re under those numbers.

From a company-risk point of view, the only sane internal rule is:

If you drink at the function, you don’t drive home. Full stop. We promote Uber/Bolt, shuttles, lift clubs or designated drivers – not “I’ll be fine, it’s just down the road”.

What a legally smart party looks like (without killing the vibe)

A legally smart, still-fun year-end function looks something like this:

You send a short pre-event notice reminding employees that this is a company function, the Code of Conduct and harassment policy still apply, and there is a zero-tolerance stance on drinking and driving. You make sure there’s food, water and non-alcoholic drinks, and you avoid turning it into an “all-you-can-drink” contest.

Managers know they’re on duty to step in if someone is out of line or clearly over the limit. You actively promote safe transport – pre-arranged shuttles, ride-hailing, lift clubs, designated drivers – and you can prove it in an email if you ever have to.

If something does go wrong, you’re able to show that you identified the risks and took reasonable steps in line with OHSA and the EEA, rather than just handing everyone a shooter and hoping for the best.

The bottom line

If you’re hosting it and pouring the drinks, the law expects you to manage the risk.

Your responsibility starts the moment the function becomes a company event and tails off once the official function is over, your safety measures are in place, and employees make their own choices beyond that.

Party season should end with sore feet and full photo albums –not with your company logo in a CCMA bundle or on a court file.