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Mistletoe or Legal Woes: Holiday Parties May Pose Legal Pitfalls for Many Americans, New Survey Finds
Survey Commissioned By LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell lawyers.com
NEW YORK, NY, December 03, 2004 - December may bring more than holiday cheer for many Americans. A survey released today reveals that holiday parties in homes and offices may result in trips to the courtroom for some.
Commissioned by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell’s lawyers.com, a free online directory of 440,000 attorneys nationwide, the survey assessed Americans’ vulnerability to common legal pitfalls during the holiday season. Harris Interactive conducted the survey.
Hosting a Party at Home Involves More Than Planning A Menu
Nearly one-in-four (24%) adults do not know that a party host who serves alcohol to a clearly inebriated guest may be legally responsible if that person goes on to hurt or kill someone in a car accident. Yet one-in-five adults will host a party at which alcohol will be served this season.
"Most states have ‘social host’ laws, which hold party hosts liable in certain situations if their guests who drink cause serious car crashes," said Alan Kopit, legal editor of lawyers.com.
"Such hosts may unwittingly put themselves in legal hot water by not carefully monitoring their guests’ intoxication levels, particularly when they get in their cars. A few precautionary minutes when planning parties can save time, money and the heartache of the legal ramifications of a guest’s crash." Kopit added.
Check Your Coat, But Not Your Professionalism, at This Year’s Office Party
Holiday office parties pose additional legal risks, the survey also uncovered. Twenty-nine percent of Americans have experienced or observed sexual advances between people who work together at such gatherings, more than at any other work event during the rest of the year, including those that occur after-hours or on weekends or at the office during the work day.
"An office party can be the site of a sexual harassment situation just as much as the office," said Kopit. "Many people view an office holiday party as a fun, carefree gathering of colleagues, during which normal professional expectations are relaxed. In fact, from a legal perspective, just the opposite is true."
According to Kopit, the responsibility to ensure legal safety at holiday parties falls under the purview of business owners. According to the survey, however, many businesses regularly fail to take necessary precautions. Just 16 percent of Americans say that policy and behavior expectations, including those involving sexual overtures among colleagues, have ever been distributed prior to any holiday office party they attended.
Moreover, only 12 percent have been at a holiday office party at which car keys were collected and returned only to sober drivers. Less than one-in-three (30 percent) have gone to an office party at which taxi or designated driver service was provided to any employee who needed it.
"There’s no reason a business shouldn’t celebrate with its employees at the end of the year," said Kopit. "But anyone responsible for such an event should make sure the business, and those attending, are legally safe. Letting everyone attending explicitly know what behavior is prohibited - including that which is flirtatious or sexual - can help remove sexual harassment problems."
"Keeping employees from driving after drinking at the party reduces potential liability of the business, and helps ensure guests stay safe and healthy to enjoy the New Year," Kopit added. "If a business owner is in doubt about the proper procedures to put in place at their office party, he or she should discuss their options with an attorney."
Background and Methodology
Harris Interactive® conducted an omnibus study for LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell lawyers.com. The survey was conducted by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 1,051 adults comprising 519 men and 532 women 18 years of age and older, living in private households in the continental United States.
Interviewing for this omnibus survey was completed during the period November 19 - November 22, 2004.
The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
About LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell lawyers.com
lawyers.comsm, published by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, provides consumers and small businesses access to a free database of more than 440,000 attorneys and law firms nationwide. The Martindale-Hubbell Legal Network is the number-one resource for information about the worldwide legal profession, and is consulted daily by lawyers, business executives and consumers. With more than 4 million searches per month, this unrivaled network connects lawyers and law firms with their clients and potential clients, facilitates communication between members of the legal profession, and makes available a wide range of biographical information and professional credentials regarding attorneys in private, corporate and government practice. It is powered by a database of more than 1 million lawyers and law firms around the world.
The LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Legal Network is available to users on the Internet at www.martindale.com; www.lawyers.com; lexis.com®, the flagship legal research system from LexisNexis; lexisONE®, the LexisNexis resource for small-practice legal professionals; LexisNexis® services; on CD-ROM; and via the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell is part of the LexisNexis Group, a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc. For more information, visit www.martindale.com.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis® (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK](www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide. In addition to its flagship Web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, LexisNexis, the company includes some of the world’s most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, Les Editions du Juris-Classeur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.
About Harris Interactive®
Harris Interactive Inc. (www.harrisinteractive.com), the 15th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world, is a Rochester, N.Y.-based global research company that blends premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application. Known for The Harris Poll®; and for pioneering Internet-based research methods, Harris Interactive conducts proprietary and public research to help its clients achieve clear, material and enduring results.
Harris Interactive combines its intellectual capital, databases and technology to advance market leadership through U.S. offices and wholly owned subsidiaries: London-based HI Europe (www.hieurope.com), Paris-based Novatris (www.novatris.com), Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan, through newly acquired WirthlinWorldwide (www.wirthlinworldwide.com), a Reston, Virginia-based research and consultancy firm ranked 25th largest in the world, and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies. EOE M/F/D/V
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