On 8/17 John Gilbert posted a question regarding a staff members grievance
with a member of the board:

Hi John:  Too often, the policy ether at and above the position of executive
director is an amorphous thing.  It's volume and shape is neither firm nor
fixed except for the boilerplate contained in the museum's bylaws; which is
not very helpful when it comes to personnel matters.  This seems to be
especially true with smaller-sized institutions in particular.  Hopefully, a
member of the list affiliated with a museum that has a "complete"
board/staff personnel policy (not a handbook of do's and don't's) will give
you exactly what you need.

In the meantime, I offer the following:  Be cognizant of the due process
obligation owed both the staff member filing the gievance and the board
member involved.  Also, keep in mind that precedence will be set by the way
you handle the matter; which will prevail until such time as a written
procedure can be formalized that will guide you in the future.  Lastly,
whether the grievance is well-founded or not, the staff member should not
fear retribution, and should be assured that the grievance is being taken
seriously.

One way to go this time around would be to hand the letter over to the board
president. The board president could then make an inquiry and ask the board
member involved to respond to the grievance in writing.  At that point,
there may be enough information to initiate a reconciliation.  If not, the
next step might be to have the board president form a special fact-finding
committee.  The results of the fact-finding could then be reviewed by the
board's executive committee.  The results of the review (and committee
recommendations) would then be the topic of discussion at the next board
meeting under "closed session:  personnel issues."  Both the staff member
filing the grievance and the board member involved should be invited to
attend that part of the closed session that relates to them.  I don't think
it serves any useful purpose to have them in the meeting at the same time.
At the conclusion of the closed session, the full board (less the involved
member) would vote on the course of action to be taken.


DITDITDITDA\/DITDITDITDA\/DITDITDITDA\/DITDITDITDA\/DITDITDITDA\/DITDITDITDA\

Rich Jones
CAUSE AN EFFECT:                        Q: What's better than implementing
Nonprofit & Institution Development        a perfect plan tomorrow?
Redding, California 96001               A: Implementing a good plan today!
Phone/fax: 916-275-9261