Santa Klaus, Photocopiers
and Sexual Harassment

What do sleazy Santa’s and photocopiers have in common?

Both can result in a breach of Equal Opportunity Legislation.

Perhaps you have been to one of those work Christmas parties where people drink too much, including Santa. Before too long Santa is asking the girls to come and sit on his lap and which ones have been naughty or nice, and do they want to be naughty with him. 

Under Equal Opportunity Legislation an employer has the responsibility to ensure that its employees and sub-contractors (which would include Santa hired for the event) behave in a way that does not result in a person feeling intimidated, offended or threatened by another person’s sexual behavior. This includes at work Christmas parties even if they do not occur at the place of work or during work hours.

When a person has drunk too much their ability to see if their behavior is offensive to another diminishes. The kiss under the Christmas mistletoe is not okay if one of the people kissed didn’t want it. Ice down someone’s top is not okay and so too Santa and his sexual remarks would be sexual harassment.

So what about photocopiers, what do they have to do with sexual harassment? Again, when people have drunk a bit too much they sometimes think it is a fun idea to photocopy parts of their body not otherwise shown to people. If shown to someone or displayed in a public place this may constitute sexual harassment. What one person finds funny another person may find offensive.

So does this mean the end of Christmas parties for fear of what could go wrong?  No, but precautions should be taken to minimise the risk of a breach occurring. 

Examples of these measures include:

• being considerate of diversity and cross-cultural needs of employees when planning events;
• ensuring the provision of soft drinks, iced water, light alcoholic drinks and adequate food;
• ensuring under age employees do not consume alcohol;
• reminding employees of appropriate behavior and the consequences of not acting appropriately including encouraging employees to come forward if something potentially wrong happened to them or another
• encouraging the use of taxis, public transport and non-drinking skippers;
• issuing reminders about the dangers of drink driving and encouraging guests to leave their cars at home if they intend to drink;
• asking intoxicated employees to stop drinking and making safe transport arrangements to ensure they do not drive home;
• ensuring finishing times for functions are reasonable;
• ensuring that there is no automatic topping up of drinks; and
• if gifts are to be exchanged at your Christmas function, set rules for the types of gifts to be exchanged to avoid offending anyone.

With these suggestions in mind we trust your work place will have a fun and safe Christmas function. For more information and to find out about the “power hour” talk “Flirting with Danger: how to know when you have crossed the line” contact info@franca.com.au, or call (08) 6102 4441.

< back to homepage