Term limits of persons filling board vacancies

[Guest Janet Bash]

When a replacement for a vacancy on the board is made, does the replacement assume the duration of service of the person being replaced for purposes of term limits? There is no reference to this in our organizations bylaws. We have a limit of two years for each board position. A member had served half their term. Is their replacement eligible to serve out the remainder of the term and then run for another two year term?

[Rev Ed]

It depends. According to RONR, if you serve more than half a term you are deemed to have served a full term. Otherwise, you are not deemd to have served a term. Will this person serve half a term or just under half a term?

[Sean Hunt]

It would also depend how long your term is. If a term is one year, and you serve for 7 months of that year, you'd be eligible for one more year, and if you served for only one, you'd be eligible for two more years. If a term is two years, then you'd be eligible for two more years after 7 months, but no renewed term if you served for 13 months.

[Josh Martin]

When a replacement for a vacancy on the board is made, does the replacement assume the duration of service of the person being replaced for purposes of term limits? There is no reference to this in our organizations bylaws. We have a limit of two years for each board position. A member had served half their term. Is their replacement eligible to serve out the remainder of the term and then run for another two year term?

If your Bylaws actually say that members are limited to serving for "two years," then it's quite straightforward - the time served counts, and two years is two years. So the member would not be eligible to serve for another two-year term.

As noted, however, if your Bylaws limit how many terms a member may serve for, then serving more than half the term counts as a full term and serving less than half the term counts as nothing. Since it's a two-year term, the member would be eligible to serve a full two-year term if he's served for less than a year, and he would not be eligible if he's served for more than a year. I'm not sure which applies here since you seem to have rounded to "half a term," and I don't know whether you rounded up or down.

It depends. According to RONR, if you serve more than half a term you are deemed to have served a full term. Otherwise, you are not deemd to have served a term. Will this person serve half a term or just under half a term?

Hold on a minute. The original post said that the Bylaws limit members to serving for two years. That might be a poor paraphrase, but if the Bylaws actually specify "years" rather than "terms," I don't believe the rule you're referring to would apply.