Questions about suspending a board members duties

[Guest Ggordon]

I a general questions about the rights of the board to suspend or remove other board members duties (as listed in the bylaws) without a formal vote.

Could a president of a group strip an officer of duties, which are listed in the groups bylaws for the officer to perform, without consulting the rest of the officers or taking any vote?  There is nothing listed in our bylaws that would give the president the ability to do this and I am having a hard time finding it in Robert's Rules. It has been done as a disciplinary action, without any form of warning or notice, for a small neglect of duty that has been since fixed. 

[George Mervosh]

The answer to your question is, no.  RONR limits a subordinate board's ability to discipline its members.  Basically, all the board can do it is have a disruptive member removed from a meeting for causing the disruption.

Here's what RONR says about it:

" It may protect itself against breaches of order by its members during board meetings, and against annoyance by nonmembers, by employing the procedures outlined on pages 645–49, but the maximum penalty which may be imposed upon a disorderly member of the board is that he be required to leave the meeting room during the remainder of the meeting"  RONR (11th ed.), p. 486.

"It" is the board.

[Richard Brown]

Also, neither the president nor a board can strip an officer of duties or rights assigned to the officer in the bylaws, short of certain formal disciplinary procedures.  It certainly cannot be done without a vote.  The disciplinary procedures in RONR are very detailed and rather complicated. 

[Gary Novosielski]

No.

Unless the bylaws give the president such extraordinary powers, this is a pretty wild overreach, and would appear to be sufficient cause to bring disciplinary action against the president.

[Guest Ggordon]

41 minutes ago, George Mervosh said:

The answer to your question is, no.  RONR limits a subordinate board's ability to discipline its members.  Basically, all the board can do it is have a disruptive member removed from a meeting for causing the disruption.

Here's what RONR says about it:

" It may protect itself against breaches of order by its members during board meetings, and against annoyance by nonmembers, by employing the procedures outlined on pages 645–49, but the maximum penalty which may be imposed upon a disorderly member of the board is that he be required to leave the meeting room during the remainder of the meeting"  RONR (11th ed.), p. 486.

"It" is the board.

I am also wondering if that would pertain to the President stripping a Tech officers ability to post and make changes to the groups Facebook, where admining the Facebook group page is covered under the responsibilities of the Tech officer, as listed in our bylaws. 

 

[Richard Brown]

1 hour ago, Guest Ggordon said:

I am also wondering if that would pertain to the President stripping a Tech officers ability to post and make changes to the groups Facebook, where admining the Facebook group page is covered under the responsibilities of the Tech officer, as listed in our bylaws. 

 

I think we have already answered this question. The president has no power to strip anyone of powers or rights conferred in the bylaws unless you have a bylaw provision expressly giving him that power.

Edited to add: being the chief executive officer of the organization doesn't even come close to giving him such power. 

Edited December 5, 2017 at 10:33 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Guest ggordon]

4 hours ago, Richard Brown said:

I think we have already answered this question. The president has no power to strip anyone of powers or rights conferred in the bylaws unless you have a bylaw provision expressly giving him that power.

Edited to add: being the chief executive officer of the organization doesn't even come close to giving him such power. 

Thank you, I just wanted to specify to be sure. I thought it had been covered by previous comments but better safe than sorry.

[Guest Dog Board Member]

Can the Board vote to take away an officer's role as outlined in the by-laws?

[Joshua Katz]

23 minutes ago, Guest Dog Board Member said:

Can the Board vote to take away an officer's role as outlined in the by-laws?

Probably not. Motions in conflict with the bylaws are invalid, with certain exceptions.  What did you have in mind?

[SaintCad]

2 hours ago, Guest Dog Board Member said:

Can the Board vote to take away an officer's role as outlined in the by-laws?

What do the bylaws say about that?

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, Guest Dog Board Member said:

Can the Board vote to take away an officer's role as outlined in the by-laws?

Not unless the bylaws give the board that power. Such a provision would be very unusual. Having the general supervision or management of the organization's affairs is not enough .