Employee Privacy: Non-Work Hour and Location Work Related Activities

The ONE EXCEPTION to work status and private life is the gray area of employee involved events.
Intuition might tell you that on non-Company time and location events that all bets are off and everyone is on his or her own.

An operating mantra is that any event which is Company sponsored, Company paid, Company encouraged, or involves primarily Company employees, is subject to the employment relationship. In essence the company is on the hook.

Here are some examples of when the employment relationship is in effect even though an event is not on Company time or location:
-Company sponsored events such as picnics, holiday parties, celebration dinners...the list goes on
-Work events like customer or vendor dinners, or off-site retreats or Company seminars
-Professional events for which the Company pays, like third party seminars and professional association meetings, also trade shows and job fairs
-Certain casual employee get-togethers like happy hours after work or Company sponsored softball leagues
-Social media when the  Company is the subject

This is really a perfect example of when employers need professional Human Resources support

Lance

An Illustrative Contrast

There is an after hours social gathering at a bar near the workplace and the Department Manager is in
attendance. A male employee makes repeated advances on a female co-worker who rebuffs him. The next day the female complains to the Manager or HR. This situation falls under workplace status, even if an extended workplace, and the male employee is appropriately disciplined.

By contrast, two employees join a non-Company sponsored basketball league, and one accuses the other of stealing equipment. Not the employer's problem. This is a private life issue.

These are hypothetical examples but provide the general framework for determining Company involvement.