Having a Game Plan for the Rugby World Cup

8 September 2011

Employers should be considering their ‘game plan’ and how they will handle staff issues during the Rugby World Cup 2011 seven-week tournament. Sensible employers will negotiate a path to ensure that the needs of the organisation are managed, while allowing rugby fans some leeway.

Staff absences

There is widespread evidence that absenteeism increases around the time of big games, whether it is during the Rugby World Cup or other important sporting events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that employees tend to take more sick leave around the time of significant games.

There are a number of tools employers can use to manage this:

Clarifying expectations around attendance at work and the organisation’s policies on taking leave during this period.
Allowing employees to work flexible hours, swap shifts of take annual or unpaid leave, provided that business operations are not compromised
Managing suspicious or excessive use of sick leave. The recent changes to the Holidays Act 2003 mean that employers can require employees to provide a medical certificate for their absence even if the absence has lasted for fewer than three days. In that case, the employer must inform the employee as soon as possible that proof is required and pay the employee’s reasonable expenses in obtaining the proof.

Conduct at work

In many workplaces, games will be played while employees are at work.

In order to minimise or manage the potential for staff absences, employers could consider providing a TV or radio for employees to watch or listen to matches. Alternatively, staff could be allowed to access live feeds or scores on the internet while working or during breaks.

These types of allowances would need to be clear and well thought out, to avoid any misunderstanding. For example, where staff are allowed to keep track of games on the internet, then the terms of that access should be clearly communicated, particularly where this type of access would ordinarily be a breach of the employer’s computer or internet policy.

Employers could ask employees to make up the time they have spent following the game.

Another issue may arise if employees attend work but are unable to adequately carry out their duties because of a late night, a hangover or worse, being intoxicated. How an employer deals with this situation will depend on the circumstances and any relevant polices or terms in the employee’s employment agreement. Disciplinary action may well be justified.

Conduct outside of work

Emotions may be running high during the tournament and supporters’ otherwise sound judgment may be impaired.

This could result in an employee becoming involved in inappropriate conduct outside the workplace – for example, if the employee has a fight with a fan from a rival team, or if the employee is arrested following a night of drunken festivities.

If an employee’s actions outside work can be linked back to the employer and have the potential to bring the employer into disrepute, this can be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. Employees need to be aware that how they conduct themselves outside of the workplace is not necessarily a private matter.

In the lead up to arguably New Zealand’s most exciting sporting event, the key message is that employers need to have a game plan to ensure their own team runs smoothly.

Disclaimer: the content of this article is general in nature and not intended as a substitute for specific professional advice on any matter and should not be relied upon for that purpose.

Sarah Townsend and Summer Pringle are part of Duncan Cotterill’s trans-Tasman employment law team. S.townsend@DuncanCotterill.com

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