“Frosting and beer can be a very fun but lethal combination starting at around midnight,” says Miller, star of the upcoming ensemble comedy “Office Christmas Party” (in theaters Dec. 9). As you know, it’s holiday party season and there’s a new comedy film coming out with some great comedians (Jason Bateman, Kate McKinnon, Jennifer Aniston, Vanessa Bayer) depicting the most out-of-control work holiday party ever. Based on the preview, the employees of a large corporation really, really let loose for an insanely crazy and highly dangerous holiday party. Which leads to the legal question, what happens if an employee is injured at a work holiday party? Like most (if not all) attorney responses, the answer is “well . . . it depends.”

The answer is based on a factors laid out in a North Carolina Supreme Court case from 2007, Frost v. Salter Path Fire & Rescue, and reiterated more recently in the Court of Appeals case Holliday v. Tropical Fruit & Nut Co. In both of these cases, the employee was injured at an employment-related event out of the office. However, in one case (Frost) the worker was denied benefits whereas in the other (Holliday) the injured worker prevailed. In rendering their decisions, the court reviews six factors: 

  1. Did the employer sponsor the event?
  2. To what extent was the attendance really voluntary?
  3. Was there some degree of encouragement to attend by factors such as: taking attendance, paying for time, requiring employee to work if s/he did not attend, and/or maintain known custom of attending.
  4. Did the employer finance the occasion to a substantial extent?
  5. Did the employees regard it as an employment benefit?
  6. Did the employer benefit from the event, not merely in a vague way through better morale and good will, but through tangible advantages such as having an opportunity to make speeches and awards?

Thus, the more the employer is involved in paying for the event and requiring employees to attend, the more likely that a “party-related injury” will also be deemed a work-related injury. So with that in mind, everyone enjoy your holiday parties and go see “Office Christmas Party” for examples of what not to do. Please stay safe and have a happy holiday.