PwC sued by employee over pub crawl brain injury
A 28-year-old auditor, who suffered a serious brain injury on a work night out, is suing PwC over claims the firm bears responsibility for the behaviour of a manager who encouraged excessive drinking.
Michael Brockie, 28, suffered a “moderate-severe brain injury” during a “pub golf” night organised by his superior, that left him with “persistent cognitive symptoms,” the Financial Times first reported.
The lawsuit claims staff had been encouraged to attend the pub crawl, that had been organised by PwC manager Simon Fradgley, to celebrate the end of the Reading office’s “busy season”.
The “pub golf” game saw employees handed scorecards – that had been printed out in PwC’s offices – and encouraged to get a low score, by downing a drink, at each of the nine bars and clubs en route, in the fewest mouthfuls possible.
Brockie, then a senior associate in PwC’s audit department, claims he became so “intoxicated” that he has no memory of the night after 10pm, before he was found lying on the ground with a brain injury.
The lawsuit says there was “very heavy pressure” on workers to attend the event, which Brockie said made a “competitive virtue of excessive, rapid and prolonged consumption of alcohol over many hours from about 6pm.”
Fradgley’s invitation to the pub golf event, sent out via his work email, said: “I expect absolute attendance from all those who attended last year’s invitational. Nothing short of a certified and countersigned letter by an accredited medical practitioner will suffice as [sic] excuse.”
Brockie is claiming PwC bears indirect liability for Fradgley’s actions, through its failure to take “reasonable care” for the safety of its workers.
He is seeking to argue it was “clearly foreseeable” that someone could have been injured over claims another PwC employee suffered injuries on a separate night out in 2016 that also resulted in him taking time off sick.
PwC later halted the annual pub golf event – which had been running for around seven years – after Brockies 2019 accident.
A PwC spokesperson said the accounting firm is “unable to comment on the specifics of a matter that is subject to ongoing legal proceedings,” but sought to make clear that “as a responsible employer we are committed to providing a safe, healthy and inclusive culture for all of our people.”
“We also expect anyone attending social events to be responsible and to ensure their own safety and that of others.”
The lawsuit comes as the UK’s top accountancy firms have sought to clamp down on heavy drinking at work events in response to a series of alcohol-related scandals. In 2019, PwC introduced new rules banning drinking in the office.
Joshua Hughes, head of complex injury at personal injury specialist law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp, noted that employers may still be held liable for injuries at “work-related events” even if they happen outside the office.
“In Mr Brockie’s case, there will undoubtedly be much analysis over the extent of control that PWC had over the particular event, through Mr Brockie’s manager, Mr Fradgley and whether their employer responsibilities extended to the pub golf event,” Hughes said.