I don’t want to host my company’s holiday party anymore

A reader writes:

Many years ago, my then-supervisor asked me if I would host a holiday party for her and for my peers as we were scattered across a large geographic area and my home was conveniently in the middle. I agreed and have done so every year since then (except for 2020). I have provided the location and the company provided the food and beverages.

Over the years, our department and this event grew from fewer than 10 employees to about three times that.

I believe I have decided that I will not be hosting any longer based on a few factors. One factor is that my staff told me after the last event that one of the employees drove herself to my home already under the influence. I was always uneasy with us serving alcohol at the event and made sure to assess folks as they left, but I never thought to worry about people arriving already under the influence.

Another factor is that some employees in this group have been caught lying, although not definitively enough that they faced any consequences — but clearly enough that I lost trust in them.

After learning about these things, I started thinking about possible legal liability. What if someone left my home after consuming alcohol and had an accident? What if someone slipped or tripped and got injured or lied about being injured at my home? We have homeowner’s insurance and an umbrella policy, but like all insurance it’s best to have it and never have to use it!

We also now have some employees in this group with political and religious views that are very different from my own, and I wonder if they could feel or claim to feel offended by items in my home that reflect my beliefs.

Lastly, based on something I saw happen recently, if one of my staff ended up with an injury or property damage from this event and had to reference me and my home for an insurance or worker’s comp claim, even if we both agreed we were fine to continue to work together, it’s likely my employer would insist on reassigning the employee or reassigning me.

So I think I don’t want to host anymore. But staff LOVE this event, and I am not sure that they will love it as much if we move it to the office (which would probably make it a “dry” event).

Do you think I am overestimating the level of risk if I continue hosting, or are there any measures I could put in place to limit liability?

You’ve generously offered the use of your home for event for years. You don’t need to come up with a “good enough” reason to convince yourself or your employer that it’s okay for you to stop. You can just stop because you’re no longer as comfortable with it as you once were. Or because you’re just not up to it this year, or because your spouse would rather you stop, or any other reason at all.

If you wanted to keep hosting the event and were just concerned about legal liability, I’d say you should talk with your company specifically about that — so that you weren’t speculating on how any problems might be handled but could find out for sure (especially since relevant laws can vary depending on where you’re located). You could also talk to your homeowners insurance and ask them similar questions.

But you don’t want to continue hosting, that on its own is a reason just to stop! In fact, since that’s the case, I wouldn’t even bother having raising any questions about liability with your company — because if they have reasonably satisfying answers, you’re then going to be left saying, “Well, actually I still don’t want to.” It’s easier for everyone if you’re just up-front about it: you’ve done it for years, but you don’t have the bandwidth this year and it’s time for them to make other plans. And say it now, while they have time to make other plans for this year!

If that means that the staff ends up with an event held at the office that they don’t enjoy as much … well, so be it! Sometimes organizations have kind of crappy holiday parties and that’s just the way it goes. People will live! If your organization doesn’t want that outcome, they have lots of other options, like renting an actual event space; you aren’t obligated to solve it for them by continuing to offer up your home. In fact, if anything, you have less responsibility to solve it than others in the organization’s leadership do, because you’ve put in your time for multiple years now.