negotiating and presenting a contract after a unanimous vote not to rehire

[Guest lauren Turgeon]

our board voted unanimously not to rehire an outside group leader necessary for our operation, and then proceeded to write and present a very distasteful contract with the hopes he wouldn't sign. how can we as a 1) board member elected after the fact, and 20 individual members deal with this?

[jstackpo]

What do you want to deal with?  The "distastefulness" of the contract, or the apparently contradictory action(s) of the Board?

[Transpower]

Your board voted not to rehire the individual, so then why would you write any contract for him?  Simply tell him that his employment with your group is terminated.  Obviously, you should have raised a point of order questioning the process of writing the contract after voting to terminate.

[Gary Novosielski]

Yeah, I'm confused about what happened.  And I'm wondering how you would like to deal with "this".  Come to think of it, I'm wondering what the "this" is that you're referring to.  What's the current situation with respect to this person, and what would you like it to be?

[Hieu H. Huynh]

our board voted unanimously not to rehire an outside group leader necessary for our operation, and then proceeded to write and present a very distasteful contract with the hopes he wouldn't sign. how can we as a 1) board member elected after the fact, and 20 individual members deal with this?

 

Who was responsible for writing this "very distasteful contract" against the decision of the board? Who are these "20 individual members"? Are they the board members or the general membership or another group?

[Guest Lauren]

in anwer to all of your questions;

1.   The more serious action is the contradictory action of the board is my first concern at this point.

 

2.   I was not on the board at the time this contract was being written, otherwise I would have raised a point of order.

 

3.   The "this" i am referring to is: a) contradictory action of the board,

                                                    presenting a contract that they had no intention of honouring,(I was told by the board they hope he doesn't sign it), Is this bargaining in bad faith in contravention to the duties and responsibilities of the member elected Board?,

                                                   c) this individual has taken this group(an artistic group) beyond any of the chorus' expectations as far as skills,performances, and collaborative performances/opportunities in the community,  etc. He is however, not the previous artistic director. The director would like to continue with the chorus however this letter is written in such a way that if he sneezes too loud, he can be fired. The new members of the board, as of Nov 5/14 have reason to believe the board has another artistic director in the wings. This is the belief of the director as he has heard rumours through his collegial community. The two new board members, in agreement with those members of the chorus we have discussed the situation, want this director to stay, he wants to stay.

4.  The members of the board of directors wrote this contract. It reads more like disciplinary letter to a child rather than an employment contract for artistic skills. The 20 individual members are general dues paying membership.

 

 

 

[Josh Martin]

presenting a contract that they had no intention of honouring,(I was told by the board they hope he doesn't sign it), Is this bargaining in bad faith in contravention to the duties and responsibilities of the member elected Board?

Maybe. I don't know what the responsibilities of your board are. This will be for your organization to decide.

This is the belief of the director as he has heard rumours through his collegial community. The two new board members, in agreement with those members of the chorus we have discussed the situation, want this director to stay, he wants to stay.

4. The members of the board of directors wrote this contract. It reads more like disciplinary letter to a child rather than an employment contract for artistic skills. The 20 individual members are general dues paying membership.

Is there a general membership meeting coming up soon? The two of you won't be able to do much on the board on your own, but if the general membership is on your side, then you have more options. See Official Interpretation 2006-13 and FAQ #20.

[Richard Brown]

I'm at a loss as to why the board would have presented the group leader with any kind of contract after voting not to re-hire him.  The president or board chairman should have advised the group leader that, "I'm sorry to have to advise you that the board voted not to renew your contract.  Your last day as group leader will be January 31, 2015.  We thank you for your past service to the organization.  Please contact me if you have any  questions".   Did nobody have the guts to do that?

 

But, that obviously wasn't done.  It seems to me you have a couple of options.  First is to do nothing and hope he does not sign the new contract, but I see a lot of wasted time, negotiations and anxiety if you take that route.   He also might sign the contract.   Then what do you do? 

 

The second option I see is for the board to have a special meeting asap, if they are permissible, and vote to rescind and withdraw the contract that was offered to him before he accepts and signs it.   But, you are getting to an area with possible legal ramifications there and I would advise consulting with an attorney first.

 

I'm still just flabbergasted that the board offered him any contract at all after voting not to re-hire him.  Did the board actually vote to do that (send him a new contract notwithstanding the decision not to do that)?   Or did some officer do that on his own? 

 

Edited to add:  I'm afraid you have yourselves in more of a legal mess than a parliamentary one, but in this case the two go hand in hand.

[Guest Lauren]

This organization is operating in non compliance with their by laws in many ways.  They do not have anyone as president. Two members of the board appointed themselves co chairs, which would be fine except that our by laws state the board is comprised of a pres, ,  secretary and minimum of 3 board members; max of 12. There wasn't even a motion for this change in leadership. They just volunteered.

 

The board unanimously voted not to rehire him and then presented him with the contract.

 

We just had our AGM. We do have a  by law allowing a semi annual meeting but that can't happen until March 2015.

 

If he signs the contract, the bulk of membership will be ok, it's the board and their old guard that will probably find another unfavourable way to deal with this. As I see it, according to our by laws, any member can request to be a board member by simply sending such request to the board. ( We do not have a board with fair and equitable representation of the membership.)

My thoughts are that we get enough supporting members on the board and move to rescind the contract, or "one tenth of the membership submit a written and signed request for a meeting."This request may be denied by the majority of the "old guard" board members.

[Richard Brown]

My thoughts are that we get enough supporting members on the board and move to rescind the contract, or "one tenth of the membership submit a written and signed request for a meeting."This request may be denied by the majority of the "old guard" board members.

Are you sure that your bylaws actually allow the board to deny the request/demand for a special meeting if it is submitted in accordance with the bylaws?   That would be a highly unusual provision.

[Josh Martin]

This organization is operating in non compliance with their by laws in many ways.  They do not have anyone as president. Two members of the board appointed themselves co chairs, which would be fine except that our by laws state the board is comprised of a pres, ,  secretary and minimum of 3 board members; max of 12. There wasn't even a motion for this change in leadership. They just volunteered.

Well, this is another problem, but one battle at a time.

As I see it, according to our by laws, any member can request to be a board member by simply sending such request to the board.

Presumably it is up to the board whether to grant such a request?

My thoughts are that we get enough supporting members on the board and move to rescind the contract, or "one tenth of the membership submit a written and signed request for a meeting."This request may be denied by the majority of the "old guard" board members.

You'll need to take a closer look at the bylaws, but if the bylaws provide that a special meeting may be called by one tenth of the membership, then it seems unlikely that the board could deny such a "request."

[Guest Lauren]

Thank you to everyone who provided answers to my posts today. It gives me a clearer idea of what direction to move in the near future.

I may be back in the near future as well.