Dear HR,
Our company has an annual Christmas party during the holiday season. One of our employees does not celebrate the holidays so in an attempt to accommodate and since it is really more of a year-end employee thank you dinner we were thinking of renamed as such. Is there an issue with calling it a Christmas party?
Answer:
It’s great that you have decided to reward your employees with a year-end employee thank you dinner! Although there is no legal issue calling it a Christmas party – we would advise sensitivity. Since you’re already aware of employees with different beliefs we would recommend the event name change and leave the word Christmas out to keep it neutral and avoid any future complaints.
If the dinner is mandatory- you need to pay for the time they are there.