Ex-officio member

[Guest Chris]

In our by-laws we have two members listed as being ex-officio, the pres and VP. Can there be others if not listed?

For example, our president sits on the negotiation team as an ex-officio (in job description), our grievance chair (PR&R) also sits on team. The chair is not listed as a ex-officio in the job description. Can this person (the chair) be one? Who can be one?

[Gary Novosielski]

It's not clear to me what you believe the term "ex-officio" means.  It's also not clear what "chair" you're talking about. 

[Guest Guest]

That is what I trying to figure out. Two officers are listed as ex-officios in the by-laws. They are sitting members on any/all committees. Now we have our grievance chair on the negotiations team as an ex-officio, but that is not in job description. I am just trying to find out if an appointment like this can be done

[Gary c Tesser]

We're not dodging your question, Guest Chris or Guest Guest or both, but we're trying to figure it out.

 

Tell me.  You say "Now we have our grievance chair on the negotiations team as an ex-officio ... " So, (1) how did this come to be?

 

And (2) more importantly, it looks like whoever wrote your bylaws doesn't know what "ex officio" means, and therefore, Guest Chris, no disrespect, but you don't either.

[Gary c Tesser]

On the other hand, that judgement might be overly harsh, or at least premature.  Reading snippets of bylaws and paraphrases is often (if not usually, perhaps always) misleading:  reading them in their entirety might fill in blanks.  But that's beyond the scope of this forum (so please don't post them.  But maybe if your bylaws are up on the Internet, you can post a link, and any reader here who wants to can go there and read them).

 

The problem is that this sentence, by itself, is wrong, because it's not what "ex officio" means, so we can't know what the sentence means:  

 

"Two officers are listed as ex-officios in the by-laws. "

 

But, looking at that sentence combined with the next one, might make it clear:

 

"They are sitting members on any/all committees."

 

Looked at together, that makes it clear what the bylaws mean by "ex officio", and it's actually sensible.  But I still can't make heads or tails of this one, and it looks as if Gary Novosielski couldn't, either:

 

"Now we have our grievance chair on the negotiations team as an ex-officio ..."

 

So again, Chris, what's the story with the grievance chair?

[Josh Martin]

In our by-laws we have two members listed as being ex-officio, the pres and VP. Can there be others if not listed?

 

No.

 

For example, our president sits on the negotiation team as an ex-officio (in job description), our grievance chair (PR&R) also sits on team. The chair is not listed as a ex-officio in the job description. Can this person (the chair) be one? Who can be one?

 

An ex-officio member, by definition, is someone who automatically holds a position by virtue of holding some other position. This cannot possibly happen except as the result of some rule to this effect. Someone could be an ex officio member of a certain committee or of all committees. Just saying someone is an "ex officio" doesn't mean anything. See FAQ #2 for more information.

 

The Grievance Chair is not an ex officio member of anything unless your rules so provide. The organization is certainly free to appoint the current grievance chair as a member of a certain committee if it wishes to do so.

[Guest Guest]

My understanding is that ex-oficio means unelected.  Many people think that means, or infers, that the person may not vote, which is not correct.

[Guest Edgar]

My understanding is that ex-oficio means unelected. 

 

Sort of. See FAQ #2.