Elections

[Guest Aimee B]

Hello.  I'm currently president of an organization and decided not to run another term.  We just held elections for our executive board.  One of our members who said she would run another term for secretary,  ran unopposed and won.  There were other general board members interested in the position but they were not in good standing per our bylaws and couldn't run against someone who was (ie: the elected secretary).   After the election, she disclosed to the NEW executive board members only that she has decided to take a leave of absence.  Does this mean we should hold another election or is it up to the new board to elect or appointment someone until she supposedly comes back.  My term ends June 30th.  Any advice would be much appreciated.  Thank you.

[Guest standard answer]

standard answer

what do your bylawa or constitution. Say

(ps literally no hearsay or paraphrasing1

[Chris Harrison]

RONR doesn't address what implications (if any) there are for a member taking a "leave of absence".  So it is unclear if anything must, should, or even can be done besides electing a Secretary pro tem at each meeting (and the Secretary pro tem doesn't have any administrative duties outside of the meeting).  So the answer to your question ultimately depends on what your Bylaws say on the subject of what constitutes a "leave of absence" and its implications on the officer taking it.

[Atul Kapur]

RONR says, in § 32. Request to be Excused from a Duty,

Quote

If a member who has accepted an office, committee assignment, or other duty finds that he is unable to perform it, he should submit his resignation. . . . By submitting a resignation, the member is, in effect, requesting to be excused from a duty. The chair, on reading or announcing the resignation, can assume a motion “that the resignation be accepted.”

Your bylaws should tell you who can accept the resignation. If they are silent, then it is the body that elected the position. If you accept the resignation, then you should look at your bylaws to see how the vacancy should be filled.

Edited June 4, 2020 at 06:49 PM by Atul Kapur

[Weldon Merritt]

2 hours ago, Atul Kapur said:

RONR says, in § 32. Request to be Excused from a Duty,

Your bylaws should tell you who can accept the resignation. If they are silent, then it is the body that elected the position. If you accept the resignation, then you should look at your bylaws to see how the vacancy should be filled.

But Guest Aimee B doesn't say the new secretary resigned. She said the new secretary "has decided to take a leave of absence." So I think Mr. Harrison's response is correct. I would only add that regardless of what (if anything) the bylaws say about a "leave of absence," the board could request the secretary's resignation. But if she declines (which she is free to do), there may not be much the board can do short of removal from office. And that may or may not be a practical soluation.

[Atul Kapur]

24 minutes ago, Weldon Merritt said:

But Guest Aimee B doesn't say the new secretary resigned. She said the new secretary "has decided to take a leave of absence." (emphasis added)

You are correct, Weldon, of course. But I don't see a right to take a leave of absence anywhere. Just as there isn't a right to abandon an office and duties that one has accepted (as per my citation). So I was trying to connect Guest Aimee B's situation to the closest thing I could find in RONR.

[Weldon Merritt]

You're quite right, Atul; there is no such right in RONR. Yet there seems to be a fairly common assumption that it can be done. And I suppose it can, as long as they are allowed to get by with it. I just don't see that requesting (or in that case, just taking) a leave of absence, even when not provided for in the bylaws, can be equated with a resignation. But I think it can be treated as abandoning the office, thus providing grounds for discipline (including possible removal from office). 

[Richard Brown]

I agree with Weldon Merritt in the sense that I do not equate "taking a leave of absence" with a resignation.  Perhaps other factors that we are not aware of might enable members of the organization to reach that conclusion, but we have not been made aware of any such facts.  A short term (or longer) "abandonment" of her dutie doesn't make it a resignation in my opinion.  It does, perhaps, make it a matter for disciplinary action.