Listing of penalties and punishments in Bylaws. Are the possible penalties required to be listed by offense in the Bylaws, other than "for cause"?

[David R Homan]

I have a question about the listing of penalties and or punishments as discipline options.

I know I can state a phrase to the effect of "a member may be dismissed for cause".

Realizing that not every offense can be legislated, do we need to list "punishments" and detail as many offenses as we can imagine in our bylaws?

Also, can these offenses be listed in each section of the bylaws that apply to that category of our bylaws (like member privileges, safety rules, etc.), or would it be better served to detail these things in a section of the bylaws entitled "Disciplinary Actions"?

This is very important because we are a gun club with no paid employees, only volunteer members.

Thank you.

I am Dave

[Guest Puzzling]

6 hours ago, David R Homan said:

I have a question about the listing of penalties and or punishments as discipline options.

I know I can state a phrase to the effect of "a member may be dismissed for cause".

Realizing that not every offense can be legislated, do we need to list "punishments" and detail as many offenses as we can imagine in our bylaws?

Also, can these offenses be listed in each section of the bylaws that apply to that category of our bylaws (like member privileges, safety rules, etc.), or would it be better served to detail these things in a section of the bylaws entitled "Disciplinary Actions"?

This is very important because we are a gun club with no paid employees, only volunteer members.

Thank you.

I am Dave

I was thinking about this and I think is(in no particular order)

- check how similar gun clubs state it in their bylaws and regulations.

- check with national gun groups (possibly they have examples) (and join one of them as group)

- in the bylaws only give the maximum fines , and general rules (insurance, attendance, certification (eye and weapon) tests, violations can be reported in detail to other (government) organizations and so on)

- put the details in a separate document and also add the disciplinary procedure from RONR to this document (complete copy)

That are my first ideas, others will follow (also from other posters)

[Josh Martin]

8 hours ago, David R Homan said:

Realizing that not every offense can be legislated, do we need to list "punishments" and detail as many offenses as we can imagine in our bylaws?

No, the organization is not required to enumerate every possible offense for which a member might be disciplined. Organizations frequently choose to leave the language on this subject vague and leave it to to the organization's judgment whether a particular instance warrants discipline.

The organization is also not required to enumerate punishments. An organization already has the ability to impose the following punishments: censure, suspension, or expulsion. If an organization wishes to impose fines as a punishment, that would need to be specified in the bylaws.

"Punishments that a society can impose generally fall under the headings of censure, fine (if authorized in the bylaws), suspension, or expulsion. The extreme penalty that an organization or society can impose on a member is expulsion.

If there is an article on discipline in the bylaws, it may specify a number of offenses outside meetings for which these penalties may be imposed on a member of the organization. Frequently, such an article provides for their imposition on any member found guilty of conduct described, for example, as "tending to injure the good name of the organization, disturb its well-being, or hamper it in its work." In any society, behavior of this nature is a serious offense properly subject to disciplinary action, whether the bylaws make mention of it or not." RONR (12th ed.) 61:2-3

8 hours ago, David R Homan said:

Also, can these offenses be listed in each section of the bylaws that apply to that category of our bylaws (like member privileges, safety rules, etc.), or would it be better served to detail these things in a section of the bylaws entitled "Disciplinary Actions"?

The organization is not required to enumerate specific offenses at all. If it wishes to do so, the organization is free to define these offenses at such places in its bylaws as it deems appropriate. Generally, I am inclined to think that listing them in one place would be preferable, but that is just my personal opinion.

[Rob Elsman]

Be careful about enumerating the specific offenses (and their corresponding punishments) in the bylaws.  Such an enumeration precludes disciplinary action for any other offense not also listed, using Principle of Interpretation 4 in RONR (12th ed.) 56:68.  In most smaller organizations and local chapters of larger organizations, such enumerations are usually not necessary, RONR (12th ed.) 56:57.

[Richard Brown]

11 hours ago, David R Homan said:

Realizing that not every offense can be legislated, do we need to list "punishments" and detail as many offenses as we can imagine in our bylaws?

Agreeing with Mr. Martin and Mr. Elsman, there is probably no need to list specific offenses or punishments and I would urge extreme caution in trying to do so. As Mr. Elsman pointed out, if you start listing offenses, that can lead to a conclusion that everything is permissible unless it is listed as an actionable offense. This is not to say, however, that a gun club should not have rules regarding bringing loaded weapons onto the premises, etc.  I do agree with Guest puzzling (or was it new member RSW?) that it may be wise to try to look at the bylaws of similar types of organizations.

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Rob Elsman said:

Be careful about enumerating the specific offenses (and their corresponding punishments) in the bylaws.  Such an enumeration precludes disciplinary action for any other offense not also listed, using Principle of Interpretation 4 in RONR (12th ed.) 56:68.  In most smaller organizations and local chapters of larger organizations, such enumerations are usually not necessary, RONR (12th ed.) 56:57.

 

49 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Agreeing with Mr. Martin and Mr. Elsman, there is probably no need to list specific offenses or punishments and I would urge extreme caution in trying to do so. As Mr. Elsman pointed out, if you start listing offenses, that can lead to a conclusion that everything is permissible unless it is listed as an actionable offense. This is not to say, however, that a gun club should not have rules regarding bringing loaded weapons onto the premises, etc.  I do agree with Guest puzzling (or was it new member RSW?) that it may be wise to try to look at the bylaws of similar types of organizations.

While I agree with this personally, I can understand a desire for a society to enumerate some offenses. A reasonable compromise in such a case would be to enumerate the particular offenses that the society feels are especially important to call out, and then add a "catch-all" offense at the end of the list similar to the language in RONR.