Why is that ridiculous? Contractors are not employees, so why should they be invited to a give thanks party for employees? Become an employee if you want to partake.
Feelings of entitlement are wrong here. Decency though tells us to invite everyone.
It's not necessarily up to them.
Then at the stoke of 5pm, as we permies were discussing which pub to move on to, the contractor stood up, mumbled his thanks, and left. Billable hours over for the day.
Or, maybe, had better things to do. :)
Human decency is human decency, nothing more to that.
How dare people have feelings right? A lot of contractors (like myself) are treated like employees who are easier to fire.
I understand the separation from a legal perspective, but at the same time I've developed relationships with the people I work with and enjoy working with them. Being entirely honest? It hurts being excluded from things and not everyone has the option to just "become an employee".