Guest JAR Posted December 9, 2015 at 02:27 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 at 02:27 PM Can an employee of a private club run for a position on the Board of Directors? It's not in the bylaws, but wouldn't it be a conflict of interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted December 9, 2015 at 02:35 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 at 02:35 PM 7 minutes ago, Guest JAR said: Can an employee of a private club run for a position on the Board of Directors? It's not in the bylaws, but wouldn't it be a conflict of interest? No rule in RONR would prohibit him from seeking office. If your club members feel it's a problem, nominate and vote for someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transpower Posted December 9, 2015 at 02:41 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 at 02:41 PM Of course, the employee would have to be a member in good standing of the club! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted December 9, 2015 at 03:00 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 at 03:00 PM 20 minutes ago, Transpower said: Of course, the employee would have to be a member in good standing of the club! Why? Unless the bylaws contain a specific restriction, non-members can be elected. RONR (11th ed.), p. 447, ll. 16-19. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted December 9, 2015 at 04:10 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 at 04:10 PM 1 hour ago, Guest JAR said: [...] wouldn't it be a conflict of interest? A conflict-of-interest is not a bar to being nominated, nor being elected, under Robert's Rules of Order. But, "Yes," -- to have an employee sit on a board which does the management -- would indeed trigger constant and innumerable conflicts of interest. But that potential problem cannot prevent a voter from voting in favor of such a person. -- You are free to elect that person and live with those conflicts, if the voters so choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted December 9, 2015 at 04:34 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 at 04:34 PM Can the employee run for office, yes. Getting nominated may be a problem as the only way to volunteer for a position is to be a member of the organization and to nominate himself/herself. Otherwise, either a member would have to nominate him/her, or the employee would have to hope for enough write-in votes (which is harder to do.) Whether or not this is necessarily a good idea is another thing. Although some organizations (generally not for profit, in my experience) will have a Board position entitled "Employee Representative" or some similar term. Then again, those organizations are more likely to have rules in place to deal with the issue - as it is possible to have numerous "Conflicts of Interest" with such a position - although there are benefits too. An employee may understand the problems employees are facing in a different way than another person. An any good member would realize that employees are stakeholders in the organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted December 10, 2015 at 12:29 AM Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 at 12:29 AM 10 hours ago, Guest JAR said: Can an employee of a private club run for a position on the Board of Directors? It's not in the bylaws, but wouldn't it be a conflict of interest? It depends what you mean by "run". RONR does not define the term. If you mean can he tell people he'd like to be elected and asking them to nominate and vote for him, then I don't see why not. There's nothing in RONR to prevent it. I think it might be a bad idea to vote for him, but I'm not a member so it doesn't matter what I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g40 Posted December 10, 2015 at 04:26 AM Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 at 04:26 AM I am not, and never have been, a member of a "private club" - but am a little familiar with several different types of such "clubs". Unless this is a very different type of private club that I usually think of, employees of such clubs would rarely be "members" of the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weldon Merritt Posted December 10, 2015 at 05:20 AM Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 at 05:20 AM 49 minutes ago, g40 said: Unless this is a very different type of private club that I usually think of, employees of such clubs would rarely be "members" of the club. You may be correct, but as Mr. Mervosh has pointed out, unless the bylaws specifically require officers to be members, a non-member can be elected. Whether that is a good idea, or is likely to happen, is a different question entirely, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transpower Posted December 10, 2015 at 01:57 PM Report Share Posted December 10, 2015 at 01:57 PM Yes, I will concede it's possible that a non-member can be elected. RONR (11th ed.), p. 448, ll. 3-10 says: "An office carries with it only the rights necessary for executing the duties of the office, and it does not deprive a member of the society of his rights as a member. If a person holds an office in a society of which he is not a member and the bylaws make that officer an ex-officio member of the board, the nonmember is thereby a full-fledged board member with all the accompanying rights; but this does not make him a member of the society." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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