Apology at a meeting - How is it Counted

[amen423]

If a person submits an Apology or a meeting, how is it recorded?

Is it counted as an attendance because they have made the effort to advise that they will not be attending as against a person who does not make the effort to advise anyone of their intentions?

An example is where an organisation has a rule for committee members to attend at least 50% attendance at meetings and that member attends 20 Meetings, 20 Apologies and 4 Non attendances.

Can it be deemed under those circumstance that they have not met the 50% requirement as there are actually 24 meetings not attended or 40 attendances and 4 Non attendances.

[Josh Martin]

28 minutes ago, amen423 said:

If a person submits an Apology or a meeting, how is it recorded?

Under the rules in RONR, it is not recorded.

28 minutes ago, amen423 said:

Is it counted as an attendance because they have made the effort to advise that they will not be attending as against a person who does not make the effort to advise anyone of their intentions?

An example is where an organisation has a rule for committee members to attend at least 50% attendance at meetings and that member attends 20 Meetings, 20 Apologies and 4 Non attendances.

Can it be deemed under those circumstance that they have not met the 50% requirement as there are actually 24 meetings not attended or 40 attendances and 4 Non attendances.

RONR has no rules regarding attendance or how to "count" attendance for members who have (or have not) apologized for their presence or absence. If an organization has such rules, it is up to the organization to interpret them (or amend them clarity).

Edited May 11, 2020 at 02:15 PM by Josh Martin

[Atul Kapur]

4 hours ago, amen423 said:

If a person submits an Apology or a meeting, how is it recorded?

Is it counted as an attendance

 

4 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

RONR has no rules regarding attendance or how to "count" attendance for members who have (or have not) apologized for their presence or absence. If an organization has such rules, it is up to the organization to interpret them

It is up to the organization to interpret them if there is any ambiguity. RONR may not define attendance but the english language does: If apologies count as attendance, then I have attended the gym every day for the last five years.

I agree that, if the organization wants apologies to have a particular status, they should make it explicit.

[amen423]

Thanks for your replies and explanations which clarifies what I asked.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/11/2020 at 3:17 PM, amen423 said:

Thanks for your replies and explanations which clarifies what I asked.

I have not run across the use of an "Apology" for absences, but I agree that it would not be recorded and would still count as an absence.

For bodies that mandate attendance at meetings it is often the case that an anticipated absences is treated as a Request to be Excused from a Duty, which could be conveyed and moved by another member.  In that case the motion and result would be recorded.  This type of action would be appropriate in organizations where a certain number of "unexcused" absences would invoke some negative consequence.

[Richard Brown]

20 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

I have not run across the use of an "Apology" for absences, but I agree that it would not be recorded and would still count as an absence.

For bodies that mandate attendance at meetings it is often the case that an anticipated absences is treated as a Request to be Excused from a Duty, which could be conveyed and moved by another member.  In that case the motion and result would be recorded.  This type of action would be appropriate in organizations where a certain number of "unexcused" absences would invoke some negative consequence.

I agree with this post by Mr. Novosielski but would add that the member himself could make a motion that he "be excused from the duty of attending the next meeting" if he knows in advance that he will be on vacation, out of town on business, scheduled for surgery, etc. There is no need for another member to make the motion on his behalf.  I suppose, however, that if Mr. Jones is absent from a meeting, another member could make a motion that Mr. Jones' absence be excused due to the fact that he is out of town, recovering from surgery, etc.