Happy Hour announcements

Jayhawk

We have an issue at our company where employees have been sending out company-wide emails inviting everyone to attend offsite happy hours they have put together. There is nothing in the email that says it is company sponsored or a company event. My concern is that it could appear as company sponsored if someone is injured and they reveal they were invited to attend the offsite happy hour through their company email from another employee. Am I being too paranoid about our liability or should I put a stop to the email invitations? I realize if the employees want to have a "happy hour" together offsite with each other they may just have to do it by word of mouth. Has anyone else had to deal with this? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

scottorr

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-18-03 AT 04:47PM (CST)[/font][p]I think you should be okay as long as an agent of the company doesn't send out the notice. An agent generally refers to any member of management. You may want to request that the person sending the e-mail indicate in the e-mail that this is not a company sponsored event. On the other hand I would not encourage it. If you have a policy that says e-mail is to be used for business purposes only and you allow the e-mails to continue, you will cross over into a fuzzy area.

SMace

I would advise them not to use co. equipment to create the gatherings. Otherwise go for it. It can be good for morale. Bad if you exclude ppl, etc.

Balloonman

Hey Jayhawk,
I am in Blue Springs, if you could send me an invite I could at least join you! If it is for tomorrow night I will make you my famous "Jayhawk balloon", trust me you will love it.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

jmpmo

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-19-03 AT 02:50PM (CST)[/font][p]Hey Jayhawk and DJ,

DJ, is that something that should be on our recipe board?

I am in Overland Park and I don't want to be left out. xB-)

Btw, we allow our employee's to do that and have not had an issue yet. (knocking on wood as she types.)

Crout

Notice that jmpmo said "yet." Hey, I have been known to enjoy my share of Happy Hours, but I would put a stop to the emails. It doesn't matter if the person who sent the email is not an "agent" of the company (which I also disagree with, but the way). If Management has knowledge of the emails and does nothing about it that is tacit approval.

Don D

Pop Test:

Which of the following should be allowed? (hint: none)

1) All employees are invited to drop by Clancy's Pub after work today. Hey guys, let's unwind! See ya' there, Charlie and Slick Sue.

2) The ladies in accounting invite all of the gals in the front office to come to Mary's on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 for our quilting project.

3) NAMBLA of Tuscon will be meeting for breakfast Friday at 6:00 a.m. at Shoney's.

4) Local 104 of the Electrical Workers will meet after work today in the parking lot next door. Refreshments provided.

Jayhawk

Thanks for the interest in our company social events, Balloonman, however, we have decided to stop the social invites on company email. So, it will only be by word of mouth as to where the gathering will be and since I sent out the company-wide notice that no one was allowed to send these out anymore, I am the bad guy and will probably not get the "word of mouth" as to where it is. i doubt you want to drive into KC from Blue Springs anyway!

Balloonman

Jayhawk,
I drive from Olathe, KS to Blue Springs for work everyday, passing back through KC is no biggie for me, I come your past you anyhow. The other issue is if you allow these kind of postings to be sent out, as Don pointed out, you may have a hard time keeping the union from posting things. As a non-union shop we watch our policies related to this very closely.
Jmpmo, you cannot eat my balloon creations, latex tastes terrible! I do have a chicken quesadilla, pepper crusted salmon, and low fat steamed spring roll recipe I will try to get on once I get them put on paper!
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Yahoo

A little off-topic, but I had no clue so many of you were so close! I work on the Plaza. Maybe we should plan a meeting of the KC-area forumites.........

Don D

An out-of-state bird, a man who claims to be a balloon and an excited shout (yahoo)? I don't know about approving this gathering! Sounds like a strange one.

Balloonman

I would be up for that. Some informal networking would allow us to get to know each other. My safety network is great I can even get honest unoffical references which can be a good thing. If anyone is interested we can figure out a place, I will bring my balloons.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

sonny

Ahhhh, but interesting.

jmpmo

Will this be a forum sanctioned event, because otherwise we should not be setting it up on here? x:D

Don't forget me. I am in this area as well.