board member being left off board correspondence

[Guest blamb]

Hello,

We have a situation where a committee member is sending correspondence to the board of directors of my organization and omitting the Vice President. In his correspondence he says he is not copying the Vice President. He has a personal problem with the V.P. I am the President. At the bottom of each email is the statement that there should be no forwarding of the email to anyone it was not intended to go, if so there can be a lawsuit. (those are not the exact words but that is the general intention) The gentleman has now sent a minority report and once again omitted the Vice President. Is there a rule where all board members need to be notified. I am having a meeting on the subject that caused the minority report and the Vice President has no idea what is in the correspondence. Can you site me the rule that applied if there is one.

I have refused to accept the minority report unless all board members are notified.

Thanks

[Rob Elsman]

Hello,

We have a situation where a committee member is sending correspondence to the board of directors of my organization and omitting the Vice President. In his correspondence he says he is not copying the Vice President. He has a personal problem with the V.P. I am the President. At the bottom of each email is the statement that there should be no forwarding of the email to anyone it was not intended to go, if so there can be a lawsuit. (those are not the exact words but that is the general intention) The gentleman has now sent a minority report and once again omitted the Vice President. Is there a rule where all board members need to be notified. I am having a meeting on the subject that caused the minority report and the Vice President has no idea what is in the correspondence. Can you site me the rule that applied if there is one.

I have refused to accept the minority report unless all board members are notified.

Thanks

Parliamentary law has its context in meetings, RONR (10th ed.), p. 15, ll. 3-7.

[George Mervosh]

Robert's Rules don't address correspondence by committees outside of a meeting setting.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Is there a rule where all board members need to be notified?

...

Can you site me the rule that applied if there is one.

No.

Not for e-mail. Not for letters. Not for correspondence.

All this "communicating" is being done outside of a meeting of the organization.

(A committee meets independently of the board, or of the general membership, or of other committees.)

An individual has no obligation to "cc" his correspondence to 100% of any subset of people.

An individual is free to talk, or write, to any number of officers.

No rule in Robert's Rules of Order implies that one letter must be duplicated N times, or forwarded N times.

(Is there anything which does require 100% distribution ? Yes. - See RONR for previous notice and the call-to-meeting. But that is business of the board or of the general membership, and not related to committee e-mail, nor to private correspondence.)

I have refused to accept the minority report unless all board members are notified.

Wrong.

You don't get that option.

Minority reports are not to be unilaterally rejected.

No officer has such a power.

[hmtcastle]

We have a situation where a committee member is sending correspondence to the board of directors of my organization and omitting the Vice President.

It's a free country.

[Tim Wynn]

Hello,

We have a situation where a committee member is sending correspondence to the board of directors of my organization and omitting the Vice President.

If your vice president is on the board of directors, this is not possible, as you said the member is sending correspondence to the board of directors. Bear in mind that sending correspondence to every member of a board is not the same as sending correspondence to the board, and that is an important distinction, here.

In his correspondence he says he is not copying the Vice President. He has a personal problem with the V.P. I am the President.

The member's choice to correspond with others, be they on the board or not, is not affected by Robert's Rules.

At the bottom of each email is the statement that there should be no forwarding of the email to anyone it was not intended to go, if so there can be a lawsuit. (those are not the exact words but that is the general intention)

This is a legal matter, not a parliamentary one.

The gentleman has now sent a minority report and once again omitted the Vice President.

A minority report from a committee subordinate to the board can only be received in a board meeting, and it is received by the board without exclusion of any board members. Also note that the reception of a minority report is subject to the consent of the board. See RONR(10th ed.), p. 510, l. 26-31.

Is there a rule where all board members need to be notified.

Notified of what? Personal correspondence from a disgruntled member... no. There need be no notification of such things, because they are not official business of the board.

I am having a meeting on the subject that caused the minority report and the Vice President has no idea what is in the correspondence.

All this sounds more dramatic than it needs to be. This letter doesn't strike me as being any official act of the committee or the board. Why would the vice president need to know about it?

I have refused to accept the minority report unless all board members are notified.

If this is a committee of the board, any report would be received by the board, not the president.

[Rev Ed]

The assembly, and not the President, may give permission for a minority report to be provided. See RONR page 511 lines 18-23.

[Guest blamb]

The Vice President should vote on whether to accept or reject the minority report, he doesn't have a copy. I should have said I reject the minority report until all board members get a copy, I did not mean to imply that I just rejected it, I personally reject it. If the board votes to accept it, then so be it. thanks for the advise

[Tim Wynn]

The Vice President should vote on whether to accept or reject the minority report, he doesn't have a copy. I should have said I reject the minority report until all board members get a copy, I did not mean to imply that I just rejected it, I personally reject it. If the board votes to accept it, then so be it. thanks for the advise

[Josh Martin]

The Vice President should vote on whether to accept or reject the minority report, he doesn't have a copy. I should have said I reject the minority report until all board members get a copy, I did not mean to imply that I just rejected it, I personally reject it. If the board votes to accept it, then so be it. thanks for the advise

Receiving a minority report simply means giving permission for the report to be read at the meeting. After it is read, the VP will know what is in it. There should be no vote on "accepting" the report unless the intent is to endorse every word of the report. If the report contains recommendations, the board could vote on whether to approve those recommendations, but that's not the same thing.