This increase in the availability and accessibility of online gambling means gambling in the workplace, and during working hours, is now more possible than ever. This phenomenon is making businesses more vulnerable to issues arising from gambling.
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Act
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Violence
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Behavior
- Employees Gambling In The Workplace Against
Do your employees gamble at work?
If this question has not occurred to you it probably should according to experts who are concerned about the impact changes in the gambling environment could be having on your workplace.
Experts say with today's smart phones and tablets, punters can bet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from home, 'on the go' and yes, even from work.
Problem gambling costs businesses. Gambling addiction can be a problem not only for the person it effects and their loved ones, but also for their employer. A study into the effect of problem gambling at work found that 10% of working adults in the UK have directly experienced the problems gambling can cause in a work/office environment. It also found that more than four in five UK adults think debt and gambling can be a distraction for people in the workplace. Whilst it can be difficult to diagnose a gambling problem in an employee, there are a red flags you should watch out for: Increased absenteeism Disheveled appearance Taking large blocks of vacation at short notice Excessive use of company telephones Mood swings Theft of company property Arguments. Most workplace policies will prohibit gambling, some with a few exceptions, such as donating all winnings to a charity or creating no-entry-fee pools in which the employer provides a prize. Prohibit Gambling. In most states, gambling on sports is prohibited, and, generally, pay-to-enter office pools and fantasy leagues and those that include substantial financial winnings pose significant compliance risks. As a best practice, you should consider having a written policy that prohibits gambling in the workplace.
And with an estimated one in 100 employees likely to have a gambling problem there is no room for any employer to assume it can't happen to them.
Why should this matter to HR practitioners?
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Act
Most of the time gambling is a harmless recreational activity and most workplaces organise social gambling activities like footy tipping and Melbourne Cup sweeps but the changing face of gambling can mean it's becoming more of an issue for workplaces.
Today, employees might be using workplace computers, or company provided tablets and smart phones to gamble.
Whether an employer knows employees are gambling, or even sanctions it, may be a moot point but it might also form the basis for legal action against an employer according to a senior associate in workplace law.
Joel Zyngier, a senior associate with Holding Redlich specialising in workplace law says employers should assume gambling is taking place in their workplace, and take steps to avoid it becoming a problem.
How can out of control gambling affect a workplace?
There are three ways out of control gambling can have an impact on the workplace including: reducing productivity, increasing absence, theft and fraud.
For example:
- An employee who gambles during working hours, using their smart phone to place bets or play online poker, is not focused on work and is not using work time effectively.
- An employee who develops a gambling problem and gambles outside of work hours, for instance on the pokies, may be absent from work more often, taking extended lunch breaks to gamble or even missing parts of or full work days.
- An employee who has a problem with gambling and has access to company finances, may abuse their position in the workplace to fund their gambling addiction. Importantly, those who have done this and been caught are often found to have behaved completely out of character but a study of major court cases between 20082010 identified over $77 million lost, with employers the biggest victims of gambling related crime.
What can employers do?
Every employer in Victoria has a duty of care under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health – both physical and psychological health. But what does this mean in the context of gambling?
According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a gambling disorder is a behavioural addiction which can result in psychological harm. This psychological harm represents a health and safety risk to employees, creating an obligation on employers to address gambling in the workplace.
To fulfil their duty of care, an employer should eliminate or reduce the likelihood of problem or risky gambling at work, as much as possible.
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Why should this matter to HR practitioners?
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Act
Most of the time gambling is a harmless recreational activity and most workplaces organise social gambling activities like footy tipping and Melbourne Cup sweeps but the changing face of gambling can mean it's becoming more of an issue for workplaces.
Today, employees might be using workplace computers, or company provided tablets and smart phones to gamble.
Whether an employer knows employees are gambling, or even sanctions it, may be a moot point but it might also form the basis for legal action against an employer according to a senior associate in workplace law.
Joel Zyngier, a senior associate with Holding Redlich specialising in workplace law says employers should assume gambling is taking place in their workplace, and take steps to avoid it becoming a problem.
How can out of control gambling affect a workplace?
There are three ways out of control gambling can have an impact on the workplace including: reducing productivity, increasing absence, theft and fraud.
For example:
- An employee who gambles during working hours, using their smart phone to place bets or play online poker, is not focused on work and is not using work time effectively.
- An employee who develops a gambling problem and gambles outside of work hours, for instance on the pokies, may be absent from work more often, taking extended lunch breaks to gamble or even missing parts of or full work days.
- An employee who has a problem with gambling and has access to company finances, may abuse their position in the workplace to fund their gambling addiction. Importantly, those who have done this and been caught are often found to have behaved completely out of character but a study of major court cases between 20082010 identified over $77 million lost, with employers the biggest victims of gambling related crime.
What can employers do?
Every employer in Victoria has a duty of care under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health – both physical and psychological health. But what does this mean in the context of gambling?
According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a gambling disorder is a behavioural addiction which can result in psychological harm. This psychological harm represents a health and safety risk to employees, creating an obligation on employers to address gambling in the workplace.
To fulfil their duty of care, an employer should eliminate or reduce the likelihood of problem or risky gambling at work, as much as possible.
It makes sense to protect the workplace and the employer against potential legal action, as well as to protect the workplace and employees against the negative impacts outlined above. This morning gambling.
Four things HR practitioners can do to reduce the impact of gambling at work?
When addressing gambling in the workplace, HR practitioners can
- Assess the risk. For example, use of workplace computers and digital devices for gambling.
- Adopt a preventative approach by distributing responsible gambling information to all employees.
- Communicate with employees about responsible gambling and provide information about help and support options available.
- Adopt a workplace policy on gambling. This policy should outline what is considered acceptable in the workplace for example: permitting social gambling activities like footy tipping but prohibiting the use of workplace equipment to access online gambling sites.
The policy may be similar to those already developed for the use of drugs and alcohol in the workplace and should be informed by the particular circumstances of each individual workplace.
So you ask what does the Super Bowl have to do with the American workplace, except for lost productivity at the water cooler the Monday after the Big Game? Why, the Super Bowl is quite possibly the best reminder about the dangers of betting in the workplace.
Since the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots punched their tickets to Glendale, the media buzz around the Phoenix area has been massive and unrelenting. In other words, everyone is getting pulled in by the madness, but no one recognizes the impact (present and potential) of such madness. And with Tiger Woods in town, returning to the Phoenix Open, the PGA tour event already infamous as the wildest show on grass, the madness is in full swing this week in the Valley of the Sun. So what should employers do? Don't make things worse!
The Letter of the Law
Of course, there will be talk after the Super Bowl about the game, its commercials, Katy Perry's half-time show, and other parts of the overall pageantry, but one of the big problems relating to the Super Bowl has to be dealt with before the pre-game show even starts. Don't let employees use your technology to access gambling sites and do not tolerate gambling within your office using company resources.
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Violence
As a general rule, gambling is prohibited under Arizona law. Some exceptions exist, including so-called 'amusement gambling,' which is generally understood to involve a primary element of skill darts, for instance, or 'social gambling' — for example, when friends over the age of 21 gather to wager on events such as the time a friend's child will be born.
To Pool or Not to Pool
An office pool is a gray area. An office pool where employees use company technology to promote, organize and maintain their gambling activities hovers dangerously into the dark gray boundary between lawful and unlawful, even more so if the 'pool administrator' receives a percentage of the bets placed to compensate him/her for the trouble of organizing the activity.
If you think that I'm exaggerating (don't worry, as a lawyer I'm used to it), keep in mind that just this month, new Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich conducted raids on half-a-dozen suspected gambling cafes and gave an interview to the local news warning people not to gamble in Arizona in any fashion if they wanted to stay clear of any violations of state law.
Now combine that mindset with estimates that Americans will wager some $10 billion in conjunction with the Big Game and the existence of thousands of websites promoting bets on every aspect of the Super Bowl (from the yardage of the first field goal made to the classic over-under on the score), to prop bets on the color of Belichick's hoodie (odds are -150 for gray, +175 for blue and +700 for red), the number of times Gisele Bundchen will appear on the game telecast, and how many times the name John Travolta will be mentioned in connection with Idina Menzel, who will be singing the National Anthem (okay, I made that one up… I think).
Of course, if your employee handling the office pool is also reaching out to employees across state lines using the internet, you should add an element of interstate crime to the overall intrigue. Needless to say, no office manager wants to be the person who tells the employees to stop the fun, but there is nothing that prevents employees from enjoying the Super Bowl without having to use company resources to gamble.
Employment Law Pitfalls
So where do employers draw the line? First, you do not want to be seen as promoting gambling, which is becoming easier to do every day on a computer or smart phone. Yes, there's an app for it, too! Once you openly endorse the office prop bets pool, not only does a company offers itself up as a potential example to be made by our new AG, but it becomes very difficult to limit other forms of gambling.
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Behavior
What's the harm in a fantasy league where the commissioner/mail clerk gets paid a fee by the participants or an after-hour poker game in the conference room? Your technology resources are being used to engage in solicitation of contribution to the pool. At that point, you may have created a situation where you have sanctioned a violation of your anti-solicitation policy or your technology usage policy. If you try to enforce those during a union-organizing drive later, expect a charge of violation of the NLRA. If an employee with genuinely held religious limitations on gambling is badgered for non-participating by co-workers, expect an EEOC charge.
I recognize that there can be an office-bonding component in this process and that it is increasingly more difficult to monitor what employees do at work. If you want to capitalize on that bond but avoid the pitfalls, why don't you turn the pool into a charitable activity? All proceeds collected serve as a charitable donation on behalf of the winner of the pool. All three of the pitfalls above disappear while you retain the bonding and increase the feel-good components of having raised money for a good cause.
All I hope is that this Super Bowl is as exciting as the last one that took place at University of Phoenix stadium! Seminole classic casino poker vegas world.
Employees Gambling In The Workplace Against
Laurent Badoux is Chair, Phoenix Labor & Employment Practice at the Phoenix office of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig. www.gtlaw.com
