Workplace Christmas Meal

[witch000]

Aibu in thinking when your invited to a Christmas meal at work you have the right to decline?

yanbu, ive declined the odd Christmas party, its an invitation, if they expect you to go i would expect my hourly rate

Yanbu

Lots of threads about this lately

I'm baffled at the horrid places some people work

Is it in the working day?

It's an invitation not a summons

Being forced to do something isn't very Christmassy.

Ours is in the working day, however it's not my working day , part time, so just still can't go , childcare

Yes, you should absolutely have the right to decline.

If it takes place within working hours, however, if you don't go to the do it's normal for you be expected to work while everyone else is at the lunch (or to take leave if you don't want to work). I only say that because I had a colleague who declined to come to a Christmas do that took place on a working afternoon, then complained when she realised she could couldn't have a 'free' afternoon off instead without taking it from her leave allowance.

I don't mind working, I hate social occasions and have mental health issues which I had to go to the CEO and explain and now he wants a Doctors note.

You have to produce a doctor's note for non attendance at the Christmas party??

Yep. I'm going this year because it's a nice restaurant in Central London which is still a novelty for me, and it's not too expensive. One of the suggestions was Simpsons at the Strand, so I'm relieved that the actual place chosen is more affordable (we have to pay for our own). If it had been somewhere very expensive I may have declined.

Yes, otherwise I have got to go.

Is it during your work hours?

Only 45 minutes till the end of my shift.

When you say 45 mins to the end of your shift, do you mean that is the length of time the Christmas meal takes at the end of that day or that it is 45 mins until you can leave work today?

I think it's fine but actually respond no. I've been organising our Christmas meal and have asked the same three people a few times if they are coming and no response so I'm guessing they aren't. So if you don't want to go respond no.

45 minutes untill i can leave work for the day.

If it's your own time, say no! Any backlash should be dealt with by HR as it's unacceptable.
If it's in your own time I have no idea! Although really I think you should go I don't know how employement law would look at this. If it is classed as a team building exercise you may struggle to get out of it.

Please can you put me out of my misery OP and tell us if it is during work hours or not (no idea why but I'm really interested in this one!)

This is bat shit crazy.

In your work hours, I would say you either have to go or carry on working as normal. If outside of work hours, it should be entirely optional.

If it's compulsory you should be paid overtime for attending.

RoseGoldHippie - it's 45 minutes till the end of my shift so I would have to get up and leave half way through.

Bonkers to say you need a medical note, what the hell company is this?! No way would I go, what would idiot boss do, sack you for not attending the Christmas party. Fuck him, go to HR and tell them he is harassing you. I've never heard anything more ridiculous in my life!

The company you work for is completely batshit. What normal CEO has the time or to give a fuck about who does/doesn't come to a Christmas do?

I'm not very keen on socialising too often, especially with people - however lovely they are - I already spend 40 hours a week with and especially when I'm not feeling great (I'm prone to anxiety and depression). I usually do go to my office Christmas do, but if I didn't, nobody would ever tried to make me! Several colleagues in my previous job didn't go to ours for various reasons and nobody thought that was odd or wrong.

Wait, can I just check this is just a Christmas do with colleagues? It's not a 'working' lunch that's being put on to schmooze clients or something? If it's the latter then I can see why that would be compulsory. But not if it's just a colleagues-only thing.