David in CityAM – World Cup office sweepstakes could leave employers facing legal red cards
David quoted in CityAM on the employment law risks that office World Cup sweepstakes can create for employers, and why a seemingly harmless workplace tradition needs careful handling.
Rosie Harris-Davison, News Reporter at CityAM, writes about how World Cup office sweepstakes could leave employers facing legal red cards.
With the World Cup kicking off this week, offices across the City are running the traditional sweepstake – employees pay into a pot and are randomly assigned a team, with the winner taking the prize fund. While it may feel like harmless fun, sweepstakes are technically classed as gambling under UK law, and the bigger danger for employers often lies in how the activity plays out in the workplace.
As David Greenhalgh of EmploymentLawyer.london and a partner at Excello Law told CityAM, because these lighthearted activities often involve alcohol, they can, “inevitably increase the risk of conflicts between groups supporting different teams” – along with a heightened chance of problematic behaviours that can easily stray into sexual harassment.
David also warned that sweepstakes can give rise to discriminatory issues which can quickly escalate. The further England progress in the tournament, the greater the chance of nationality divides becoming an issue in the workplace – especially given the level of banter a sweepstake is bound to bring .
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