Straw Poll on Discipline of members under the NFP Act
Option 1 Default under the new NFP Act
The board shall have authority to suspend or expel any member from the Corporation for any one or more of the following grounds:
violating any provision of the articles, by-laws, or written policies of the Corporation;
carrying out any conduct which may be detrimental to the Corporation as determined by the board in its sole discretion;
for any other reason that the board in its sole and absolute discretion considers to be reasonable, having regard to the purpose of the Corporation.
In the event that the board determines that a member should be expelled or suspended from membership in the Corporation, the president, or such other officer as may be designated by the board, shall provide twenty (20) days notice of suspension or expulsion to the member and shall provide reasons for the proposed suspension or expulsion. The member may make written submissions to the president, or such other officer as may be designated by the board, in response to the notice received within such twenty (20) day period. In the event that no written submissions are received by the president, the president, or such other officer as may be designated by the board, may proceed to notify the member that the member is suspended or expelled from membership in the Corporation. If written submissions are received in accordance with this section, the board will consider such submissions in arriving at a final decision and shall notify the member concerning such final decision within a further twenty (20) days from the date of receipt of the submissions. The board's decision shall be final and binding on the member, without any further right of appeal.
Option 2
The board shall have authority to suspend or expel any member from the Corporation for any one or more of the following grounds:
. violating any provision of the articles, by-laws, or written policies of the Corporation;
a. carrying out any conduct which may be detrimental to the Corporation as determined by the board in its sole discretion;
b. for any other reason that the board in its sole and absolute discretion considers to be reasonable, having regard to the purpose of the Corporation.
In the event that the board determines that a member should be expelled or suspended from membership in the Corporation, the president, or such other officer as may be designated by the board, shall provide twenty (20) days notice of suspension or expulsion to the member and shall provide reasons for the proposed suspension or expulsion. The member may make written submissions to the president, or such other officer as may be designated by the board, in response to the notice received within such twenty (20) day period. In the event that no written submissions are received by the president, the president, or such other officer as may be designated by the board, may proceed to notify the member that the member is suspended or expelled from membership in the Corporation. If written submissions are received in accordance with this section, the board will consider such submissions in arriving at a final decision and shall notify the member concerning such final decision within a further twenty (20) days from the date of receipt of the submissions. The board's decision may be appealed to the class A voting members at the next regularly quarterly meeting.
Option 1: I prefer the default rule where the board decides on disciple as given above.
Option 2: The board decision may be overturned by a simple majority of members.
Option 3: The board decision may be overturned by a two thirds majority of the members.
Option 4: The members shall have authority to suspend or expel any member with a three quarters majority vote.
Option 5: There should be no mention of discipline contained in the new bylaws submitted to the government.
Dubious Evidence on the Offence
The executive (to be called the Board) are a small number and can thus make mistakes. Also, as administrators, they have to deal with policy "troublemakers". So they may be a bit pissed, and it will affect their judgment on the most important issue of "ejection".
Thus, the governors (to be called the voting members), whose numbers are bigger, and who are more objective because they have not been in battle directly with the " offender", should be the appeal body.
And since ejection is so serious, the standard for the no. of members needed to overturn a decision should be low. And if an "offender" has the appeal body divided almost in half, then getting 50% should be enough, because obviously the evidence is so flawed that 50% disagree on the offenders guilt.
Bob A
