Company Christmas Parties Becoming Drier Affairs : Spirits: Trend away from serving free alcohol is ascribed in part to fear of lawsuits resulting from employee drunk driving.

Getting crocked and unburdening yourself on the boss, rarely a route to the top in business, is particularly passe at many of this year’s company-sponsored holiday bashes.

Integrated Health Services, an Owings Mills, Md.-based operator of geriatric-care facilities, held its company party Monday at Camden Yards in Baltimore. There was the usual holiday revelry, but absent the free alcohol, a company spokeswoman said. Employees had to pay if they wanted to imbibe anything stronger than soda.

“People drink less when they have to pay,” the spokeswoman said.

Pharmaceutical maker American Home Products Corp. opted for a family-oriented affair. The holiday party was held at the company’s new corporate headquarters in Madison, N.J. Guests had a choice among soft drinks, milk, juice and “stuff for the kids,” a company spokesman said.

This seems to a trend these days, said Roger Flax, president of Motivational Systems Inc., a West Orange, N.J., management and sales training company. The lavish booze and schmooze fests of the 1980s have given way to the restrained lunch and dinner parties of the 1990s, he said.

The reason for toning things down is largely financial. A company can be sued into oblivion if a sloshed guest gets in a wreck driving home.

Consider last December’s decision by a Florida appeals court to award more than $885,000 in damages to the families of two people killed by a drunken Carroll Air Systems employee. The employee hadn’t even attended a company party, but rather a trade association gathering. The Tampa, Fla.-based company’s insurer was stuck with the tab.

Not all companies are rallying to the corporate temperance movement. Seagram Co., the big Montreal-based distiller, held its party last week and it was pretty much as might be expected.

“We served Seagram brands exclusively,” said spokeswoman Christiane Dufrense.

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., maker of the King of Beers, also serves alcohol at company parties. But with more than 45,000 employees worldwide, the St. Louis-based diversified manufacturer doesn’t hold a single holiday party. Instead, separate divisions have their own get-togethers with Budweiser on the house.

But as corporate “ambassadors,” said Francine Katz, vice president of consumer awareness, employees are urged to exercise restraint and to designate non-drinking drivers.

“We also offer free cab rides home,” Katz said.

Some companies, like Wooster, Ohio-based Rubbermaid Inc., just skip the whole party thing.

“Some departments might do a luncheon and people bring in cookies,” said Bill Pfund, vice president of investor relations. “We do have company picnics, but nothing around the holidays, really.”

Cutting back on the spirits at the company party may seem out of sync with the holiday feeling, career consultant Flax said.

On the other hand, a boozeful loss of too many inhibitions may be tantamount to career suicide, Flax warned.

“Remember that this is not a weekend party with friends and relatives,” he said. “Many of these people are people who hardly ever see you.”

Yet, holiday parties are meant to be fun. They are designed to help strengthen work relationships and forge new ones. It’s a once-a-year chance at “meaningful contact” with peers and superiors.

“We should take full advantage of it, “ he said.