Complaints and Discipline

Policy Adopted November 8th, 2017

Purpose and Application

1. This policy defines procedures for resolution of complaints against members or disciplinary action against members. Complaints against staff or disciplinary action against staff would be resolved under SMSC Personnel Policy.

2. If it comes to the notice of the Board of Directors that a member has willfully:

a. Infringed any section of the by-laws of SMSC, or

b. Infringed any policies, rules or regulations of SMSC, or

c. Exhibited conduct unbecoming a member of SMSC, or has exhibited conduct which is or has been injurious to the character or welfare of SMSC,

the Board of Directors may either invoke the conflict resolution procedure described in paragraph 5 below, or proceed directly to the complaint and discipline procedures beginning in paragraph 6. In cases where laws may have been broken (allegations of assault, for example) the Board of Directors may first refer the matter to the civil authorities, but such referral would not prevent later application of the policy to the matter.

Scope

3. The policy applies to all members of SMSC. Non-members with whom members may come into contact during the course of SMSC business or activities, or on SMSC property, may invoke the policy against members of SMSC.

Definitions

4. For the purposes of this policy, a party to a disciplinary action or complaint against a member is the member or members against whom a disciplinary action is proposed or against whom a complaint has been lodged and the complainant or complainants. In some cases the parties could be groups rather than individuals. In cases where the Commodore or the Board of Directors acts under this policy based upon common knowledge or a complaint from a non-member, the Board of Directors shall appoint one of its Directors to act as, or on behalf of the complainant, and that Director shall be a party.

Conflict Resolution

5. The Board of Directors may offer to facilitate conflict resolution between a member and complainant (the parties), where the effects of the alleged incident are seen to be limited in scope, but such conflict resolution efforts require the agreement of the parties. In the event that conflict resolution fails, the complaint and discipline procedures beginning at paragraph 6 will be invoked.

Complaint and Discipline Procedures

6. Upon receipt of a complaint against a member or members or upon the Board of Directors’ deciding that action under this policy is warranted, written notice of the Board of Directors’ intent to apply this policy shall be given to the member. The written notice shall identify the nature of the complaint against the member or the Board of Directors’ understanding of the circumstances which warrant their action in absence of a complaint from a member. First written notice to a member may include the schedule for a hearing, or that schedule may be provided in later correspondence.

7. Before taking further action on the matter, any Directors who are parties, or have conflicts-of- interest, real or perceived, shall be identified and shall recuse themselves from any further consideration of the matter.

8. The Board of Directors shall convene a panel to examine the report or complaint. The panel will ordinarily be made up of a minimum of three (3) members of SMSC, chaired by a Director. The panel shall not have the authority to apply penalties to a member, but instead shall report its findings to the Board of Directors together with any recommendation of penalties. The Board of Directors will then review the findings and recommendations of the Panel at its next meeting, whether specially or regularly scheduled, and may accept the report and recommendations or modify them as it considers appropriate. When a Director is a member of a separate panel examining a report or complaint, that Director will report the recommendations of the separate panel to the Board of directors, but shall be excluded from the Board of Directors consideration of those recommendations.

8.1. A party may request that the matter be addressed by the full Board of Directors in the first instance.

9. One week’s notice in writing shall be given to the member advising him/her of the complaint and requiring him/her to appear at a meeting of the panel.

10. At the meeting, the panel shall consider the complaint and if the member (party) and or a representative on their behalf is present, he/she shall be heard by the panel before it determines the matter. Notwithstanding that the member is absent, the panel may hear and determine the complaint, except where the member has given good cause for absence and a timely rescheduling is possible. The panel may also meet with the complainant or others to obtain information, but would not ordinarily hold joint meetings with both parties.

11. A member may only be penalized after a vote of a quorum of the Board of Directors has produced a majority of votes of those Directors present in favour of the penalty. Where the Board of Directors is acting upon the report of a separate panel the Board of Directors may accept, modify or refuse any penalties recommended in that report.

12. The Board of Directors shall at once notify in writing any member so penalized of the penalty.

Penalties

13. Penalties for infringement of paragraph 2 may include expulsion from, or suspension of membership, or lesser penalties as appropriate, including letters of censures or warnings.

Privacy

14. The existence of a complaint or report, and of an action under this policy, shall be recorded in the minutes of the Board of Directors and be accessible to members.

15. The proceedings of a panel shall be confidential to the Board of Directors, the separate panel when so constituted, the parties (and the parties’ representatives, if any). Penalties applied as a result of proceedings under this policy, or dismissal of a complaint or report, shall be reported in the minutes of the Board of Directors as follows:

15.1. Dismissals of complaints shall be reported without identifying the parties;

15.2. Letters of censure or warnings shall be reported without identifying the parties unless the Board of Directors believes that identifying the parties would serve useful purpose to the membership;

15.3. Suspensions of membership shall be reported including the period of suspension and the identity of the member; and,

15.4. Expulsions from membership shall be reported including the identity of the member.

16. Where the penalty is suspension or expulsion of a member, that member’s suspension or expulsion may be reported to members by notice.

Record Keeping

17. Ordinary minutes of the Board of Directors shall record occurrences of application of this policy but shall only provide identities of parties to this policy in accordance with paragraph 15 of this policy.

18. Minutes of panels convened under paragraph 8 of this policy, or portions of Board of Directors meetings considering recommendations of these panels, shall be sealed after resolution.

19. The Board of Directors shall maintain a file of actions under this policy containing a copy of the policy and any revisions thereto, a summary record of applications of the policy, including the identity of the party and a summary of the resolution of the complaint, and the sealed records of cases, except that the summary record shall not identify parties for whom the complaint was determined to be unfounded.

20. The file of actions taken under this policy shall be confidential to the Board of Directors and ordinarily accessed only during occasions of application of the policy, or of revisions to the policy.

Authority, Accountability and Responsibility

21. The authority for this policy is the Commodore, SMSC. Should the Commodore be a party under this policy or in a conflict-of-interest situation, the execution of the procedures under this policy for that particular action or complaint shall be the responsibility of the Rear-Commodore, or barring his or her availability (either due to absence, conflict-of-interest or being a party), shall be delegated to another Officer or Director appointed by the Board of Directors.

22. In the event that the Board of Directors is collectively a party under this policy, or sufficient Directors are parties or are in conflict-of-interest such that a quorum cannot be formed under paragraph 11, Board of Directors may delegate consideration of the matter to another willing body, or make other arrangements to ensure that the matter is addressed.

Questions

23. Questions about this policy or its application may be referred to the SMSC Commodore.