Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

SUSPENSION OF OFFICERS


Guest CTC-PA

Recommended Posts

Our nonprofit board decided to hold a special meeting in place of the regular meeting. At the meeting, a new board member requested that 2 other members of the board be removed. His request to remove the corresponding secretary was because he did not like a response she sent him in an email - he felt that she was not professional. He also requested that the executive director/scholastic coordinator be removed because she provided him with personal information that needed to be clarified for his criminal background check. His reasoning - she over stepped her boundaries by giving the information to the person directly - she should have given it to the President or VP to handle. (Please note, she is the one who did the criminal background check last year).

Here are pertinent sections of our bylaws

Article III, Section 2 states, “There shall be a quorum of five board members in order for a vote to be conducted on issues that are put before said board. The only official board members that were present at the time of this illegal meeting was the President, Recording Secretary, Athletic Director and Treasurer. Missing was the VP, corresponding secretary and Scholastic Coordinator.

In regards to disciplinary actions - this is what is in our bylaws

Article IV Section 7 states – Board members and coaches may be suspended at any time during their term when and if their actios are deemed detrimental to the Association in any capacity – This decision shall be made after an immediate special meeting is called and a vote is held in the presence of the “ENTIRE” EXECUTIVE BOARD.” This did not occur.

What can the 2 board members do legally to rectify these issue?

Can charges be brought against the board members by the individuals?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What can the 2 board members do legally to rectify these issue?

Take their case to the Membership.

Can charges be brought against the board members by the individuals?

If you are speaking about charges in the legal arena they would need to speak to a lawyer. If you are speaking of disciplinary actions imposed by the organization they would need to look to the bylaws for how to proceed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What can the 2 board members do legally to rectify these issue?

Legally? Talk to a lawyer. From a parliamentary perspective, a Point of Order could be raised at a meeting of the general membership that the action is null and void since the board meeting was inquorate (and if I recall from previous threads, there may also be issues regarding whether the special meeting was properly called). There might be another issue at work here (the bit about the "entire" board), but that's a question of Bylaws interpretation.

Can charges be brought against the board members by the individuals?

Legal charges? Talk to a lawyer. From a parliamentary perspective, sure, but it doesn't look like they'll have much success unless there are other sections in your Bylaws regarding discipline. Is there something in the Bylaws which allows the general membership to take disciplinary action?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The following request was given to the President by another board member:

I would like to raise a point of order that the action taken against _______on June 21, 2011 be stricken from the record and is hereby null and void since the entire board was not present at the time. The point of order being that ________civil rights were violated and ____ was not afforded an opportunity to speak on ___ behalf; therefore rendering the suspension improper.

The president ignored it and indicated that the decision was made. Also, another board member indicated they could suspend a person and not provide them with any explanation. (this information is not in the by-laws - you can be suspended if your actions are deemed detrimental to the organization).

Are there any other recourses?

Can the President be held accountable for not responding to the Point of Order if taken to court?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The following request was given to the President by another board member:

I would like to raise a point of order that the action taken against _______on June 21, 2011 be stricken from the record and is hereby null and void since the entire board was not present at the time. The point of order being that ________civil rights were violated and ____ was not afforded an opportunity to speak on ___ behalf; therefore rendering the suspension improper.

The president ignored it and indicated that the decision was made. Also, another board member indicated they could suspend a person and not provide them with any explanation. (this information is not in the by-laws - you can be suspended if your actions are deemed detrimental to the organization).

Are there any other recourses?

Can the President be held accountable for not responding to the Point of Order if taken to court?

Striking something from the record is a separate motion (Rescind and Expunge), so this would be out of order as a point of order (p. 299).

At best an alleged violation of a civil right is not a procedural rule proscribed in law and would require the point of order to be made timely (p. 224 c). This looks like it was made well after the fact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The following request was given to the President by another board member:

I would like to raise a point of order that the action taken against _______on June 21, 2011 be stricken from the record and is hereby null and void since the entire board was not present at the time. The point of order being that ________civil rights were violated and ____ was not afforded an opportunity to speak on ___ behalf; therefore rendering the suspension improper.

The president ignored it and indicated that the decision was made. Also, another board member indicated they could suspend a person and not provide them with any explanation. (this information is not in the by-laws - you can be suspended if your actions are deemed detrimental to the organization).

Was this Point of Order raised during a meeting? The way you phrase it ("request was given") makes it sound like it wasn't. The proper time to raise a Point of Order is during a meeting.

Are there any other recourses?

Well, first of all, it helps if the Point of Order is raised during a meeting, and it may be followed by an appeal. I would also focus on the continuing breaches in the Point of Order - such as the fact that the meeting was inquorate. Also, once again, is there anything in your Bylaws which gives the general membership the power to discipline board members?

Can the President be held accountable for not responding to the Point of Order if taken to court?

Any questions which involve a court of law are beyond the scope of RONR this forum and should be directed to a lawyer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...