Dues Grace Period

[Bookish]

Dues are due by December 31.  Our Bylaws state about late dues - "A membership will be considered as lapsed and automatically terminated if a member's dues are unpaid as of the first day of February of each year; however, the Board may grant an additional period of grace until the first day of April to such delinquent members in meritorious cases."

Can the Board put penalties on members who ask for the additional period of grace before the first day of April to pay their dues?

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Only if the bylaws give the board such power.

[Bookish]

Quote

There is nothing in the bylaws giving the Board this specific power.  They are just doing it as a Standing Rule

 

[George Mervosh]

No.  See RONR (11th ed) p. 572, ll. 2-4

[Bruce Lages]

If these penalties are financial in nature, then they must be authorized in the bylaws. A standing Rule is not sufficient.

[Bookish]

Thank you all!!!

[Bookish]

An argument FOR the late fee assessment is that since these people are not members until they pay a reinstatement fee, we are able to do this without a provision in our bylaws.  Your thoughts

[Gary c Tesser]

12 hours ago, Bookish said:

An argument FOR the late fee assessment is that since these people are not members until they pay a reinstatement fee, we are able to do this without a provision in our bylaws.  Your thoughts

Flummery (as Nero Wolfe would say).

Edited February 12, 2017 at 10:11 AM by Gary c Tesser
brevity: a la Nero Wolfe. "nonsense" took too long

[Gary Novosielski]

5 hours ago, Bookish said:

An argument FOR the late fee assessment is that since these people are not members until they pay a reinstatement fee, we are able to do this without a provision in our bylaws.  Your thoughts

Reprehensible.

[Gary c Tesser]

7 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

Reprehensible.

nonsense won't do?

wups. (I had first writ "nonsense"; that might be what GPN's "reprehensible" was  a follow-up to. I don't want to impute intellection on Gary P. Novosiileski's part in parallel to either of my hypositories, he and I are probably in agreement on this, provided there's such a word as "hypositories," and maybe if there isn't. )

Edited February 12, 2017 at 10:25 AM by Gary c Tesser
can't decide between "flummery" and

[Gary c Tesser]

14 hours ago, Bookish said:

An argument FOR the late fee assessment is that since these people are not members until they pay a reinstatement fee, we are able to do this without a provision in our bylaws.  Your thoughts

OK, I tell you what.  We can fob this off on the paint-by-numbers flick-of-the-wrist that this, the world's premier Internet parliamentary forum, is perforce constrained from interpreting the bylaws of specific organizations, but you know what, the supervisors are probably asleep here on the East Coast of the Western Hemisphere, and also here east of Flatbush Avenue, so maybe we can get away for a few hours.  Look, this:

Angourie Rice

14 hours ago, Bookish said:

since these people are not members until they pay a reinstatement fee

-- presupposes that these people are not members during the grace period.  Sure that's debatable, and a question of interpreting the bylaws; but isn't it implied that they are still members, and that their membership -- not challenged, not disputed -- is in abeyance, somewhat suspended, in limbo -- is still the default presumption; and that we can niggle about it ad nauseam ... but for the love of Heaven, don't you people realize you have a finite life-span?  -- Is this the way you want to spend the rest of it?

Edited February 12, 2017 at 12:13 PM by Gary c Tesser
more work, and clarifying that

[Gary c Tesser]

Just now, Gary c Tesser said:

Angourie Rice

(I have no idea why the computer poked the name of that sweet lovely Australian child Angourie Rice into my post, but I don't regret it, she deserves whatever show she gets.)