Happy St. Patrick's Day but don't let the celebration cause workplace stress.

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day. Wear green or be pinched. Celebrate with green beer and parades. Originally a holy day, for most people today, St. Patrick’s Day is an opportunity to drink (often excessively). So, what does that mean for you and me? It’s a great time for a reminder on appropriate behavior in the workplace.

I recommend that you take a moment today to remind everyone about appropriate workplace behaviors. Even though St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a work day (for most businesses) this year, it’s a great opportunity for the reminder.

Pinching = Harassment

I remember hating St. Patrick’s Day when I was growing up. It seemed like no matter what green I was wearing, someone would pinch me and then claim that they just hadn’t seen what I had on. I think we’ve moved beyond most of that in the workplace today but it may be beneficial to remind everyone that pinching others may be considered sexual harassment and shouldn’t be occurring in the workplace.

Alcohol in the Workplace

Another major concern is alcohol in the workplace.

  1. Drug and Alcohol Testing – In California, as most of you know, there are significant limitation on when an employer can test employees. However, the courts have been very clear that reasonable suspicion testing is permitted. Best practice — have at least 2 supervisors observe and record the behavior. Have someone drive the individual to the testing site and then drive them home.
  2. Reasonable Accommodation – There’s no requirement to reasonably accommodate a current drug user or alcoholic. However, if an individual comes to you and requests time off to attend a rehabilitation program, if you have 25 or more employees, you need to provide the time off.

Weekend Overindulgence

When employees party on the weekend, it’s not unusual for them to show up — or rather not show up — on Monday morning. Often they are tardy, call in sick, call off, or just don’t show up at all. Well, there’s good news. Even in California, you can require employees to show up on time, every day, for work. That’s not harassment, that’s being a supervisor.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Have a wonderful week and weekend — and if you are going to drink, do it responsibly.