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Direct Sale company, contract violates constitutional rights

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whittibo

Member
What is the name of your state? CA
The direct sale company resides in TN

I joined a new direct sale company in October, there was no "handbook" just a general contract which was fine.

Over the last 3 months, the company has experienced some problems (very late shipping, missing orders, not answering phones or emails) there are about 2400 consultants signed up for this company and it just got overwhelmed. People were complaining on the company forum, which was not allowed. I built a private forum for consultants to join so we could vent our frustrations. The owner did not like this.

Last night new websites were released, and in the course of this, new contract had to be agreed to. The contract referred you to the new handbook. In the handbook, it says;

9.1 Grievances and Complaints
When a Consultant has a grievance or complaint with another Consultant regarding any practice or conduct in relationship to their respective ** business, the
complaining consultant should first report the problem to his or her sponsor who should review the matter and try to resolve it with the other party_s up line sponsor. If the matter can not be resolved, it must be reported in writing to ** corporate, which will review the facts and attempt to resolve the issue.
Grievances with **, the company, products, services, policies or procedures should be taken up directly by the Consultant to his or her Sponsor or ** corporate. Discussing, or writing about the grievance (whether it be in blogs, forums- public or private, message boards, websites or any other public format) prior to notifying ** and allowing ** ample time to address the grievance ( 2-3 weeks) is in direct violation of this agreement, and could lead to termination of the Consultant Agreement.
9.2 Reporting Policy Violations
Consultants observing a Policy Violation by another consultant should submit a written report of the violation directly to the attention of ** Corporate. Details of the incidents such as dates, number of occurrences, persons involved, and any supporting documentation should be included in this report.
9.3 Disciplinary Sanctions
** reserves the right to sanction any Independent Consultant as specified in these Polices & Procedures when : (1) it is determined that the Independent Consultant has violated any provisions of this Agreement, including the provisions of these Policies & Procedures in their current form and as they may be amended from time to time at ** sole discretion; (2) the Consultant has violated any laws, regulations or standards of fair dealing; or (3) the Consultant has conducted him/ herself in a fashion that , in the company_s sole discretion, damages or tarnishes the reputation or goodwill of **.
9.3.1 Disciplinary Sanctions
Disciplinary Sanctions may result in one or more of the following corrective measures:
_ Issuance of a written warning or admonition
_ Requiring a Consultant to take immediate corrective measures
_ Imposition of a fine, which may be held from bonus and commission checks
_ Loss of rights to one or more bonus and commission checks
_ ** may withhold from a Consultant all or part of the Consultant_s bonuses and commissions during the period that ** is investigating any conduct allegedly violative of the Agreement. If a Consultant_s business is involuntarily terminated for disciplinary reasons, the Consultant will not be entitled to recover any commissions withheld during the investigation period
_ Suspension of the Individuals Consultant Agreement for one or more pay periods
_ Involuntary termination of the offending Consultant_s Agreement and ** business
_ Any other measure expressly allowed within any provision of the Agreement or which ** deems practicable to implement and appropriate to equitability resolve injuries caused partially or exclusively by the Consultant_s policy violation or contractual breach
_ In situations where deemed appropriate by **, the company may institute legal proceedings for monetary and/or equitable relief.
All disciplinary sanctions are in addition to ** right to terminate or cancel the Agreement with or without cause.
** shall notify a disciplined Consultant by e-mail, US Mail, Courier or other reasonable commercial means. Notice will be sent to the latest address listed with ** for the Consultant. Sanctions shall become effective when sent or upon Consultants actual notice, whichever occurs first.


So basically she is forbidding us from discussing things like lost orders, bad product, back ordered items and no refunds. The constitution gives us the freedom of speech, is it legal for her to take that away and forbid us to discuss problems within the company? AND, if we violate it, or know others are violating it, we have to turn them in and lose our commissions earned to that time?

Many of us have invested hundreds of dollars on product and samples and have recruited huge downlines, we can't just walk away. But the thought that we might get "terminated" and not paid our past due commissions because she didn't like us discussing the fact that an order has taken 3+ months to get, well that's insane!

Is there anything we can do??

(I edited this post to remove company name. Where the company name was, I put ** )
 
Last edited:


BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? CA
The direct sale company resides in TN

I joined a new direct sale company in October, there was no "handbook" just a general contract which was fine.

Over the last 3 months, the company has experienced some problems (very late shipping, missing orders, not answering phones or emails) there are about 2400 consultants signed up for this company and it just got overwhelmed. People were complaining on the company forum, which was not allowed. I built a private forum for consultants to join so we could vent our frustrations. The owner did not like this.

Last night new websites were released, and in the course of this, new contract had to be agreed to. The contract referred you to the new handbook. In the handbook, it says;

9.1 Grievances and Complaints
When a Consultant has a grievance or complaint with another Consultant regarding any practice or conduct in relationship to their respective Marlo Quinn business, the
complaining consultant should first report the problem to his or her sponsor who should review the matter and try to resolve it with the other party’s up line sponsor. If the matter can not be resolved, it must be reported in writing to Marlo Quinn corporate, which will review the facts and attempt to resolve the issue.
Grievances with Marlo Quinn, the company, products, services, policies or procedures should be taken up directly by the Consultant to his or her Sponsor or Marlo Quinn corporate. Discussing, or writing about the grievance (whether it be in blogs, forums- public or private, message boards, websites or any other public format) prior to notifying Marlo Quinn and allowing Marlo Quinn ample time to address the grievance ( 2-3 weeks) is in direct violation of this agreement, and could lead to termination of the Consultant Agreement.
9.2 Reporting Policy Violations
Consultants observing a Policy Violation by another consultant should submit a written report of the violation directly to the attention of Marlo Quinn Corporate. Details of the incidents such as dates, number of occurrences, persons involved, and any supporting documentation should be included in this report.
9.3 Disciplinary Sanctions
Marlo Quinn reserves the right to sanction any Independent Consultant as specified in these Polices & Procedures when : (1) it is determined that the Independent Consultant has violated any provisions of this Agreement, including the provisions of these Policies & Procedures in their current form and as they may be amended from time to time at Marlo Quinn’s sole discretion; (2) the Consultant has violated any laws, regulations or standards of fair dealing; or (3) the Consultant has conducted him/ herself in a fashion that , in the company’s sole discretion, damages or tarnishes the reputation or goodwill of Marlo Quinn.
9.3.1 Disciplinary Sanctions
Disciplinary Sanctions may result in one or more of the following corrective measures:
• Issuance of a written warning or admonition
• Requiring a Consultant to take immediate corrective measures
• Imposition of a fine, which may be held from bonus and commission checks
• Loss of rights to one or more bonus and commission checks
• Marlo Quinn may withhold from a Consultant all or part of the Consultant’s bonuses and commissions during the period that Marlo Quinn is investigating any conduct allegedly violative of the Agreement. If a Consultant’s business is involuntarily terminated for disciplinary reasons, the Consultant will not be entitled to recover any commissions withheld during the investigation period
• Suspension of the Individuals Consultant Agreement for one or more pay periods
• Involuntary termination of the offending Consultant’s Agreement and Marlo Quinn business
• Any other measure expressly allowed within any provision of the Agreement or which Marlo Quinn deems practicable to implement and appropriate to equitability resolve injuries caused partially or exclusively by the Consultant’s policy violation or contractual breach
• In situations where deemed appropriate by Marlo Quinn, the company may institute legal proceedings for monetary and/or equitable relief.
All disciplinary sanctions are in addition to Marlo Quinn’s right to terminate or cancel the Agreement with or without cause.
Marlo Quinn shall notify a disciplined Consultant by e-mail, US Mail, Courier or other reasonable commercial means. Notice will be sent to the latest address listed with Marlo Quinn for the Consultant. Sanctions shall become effective when sent or upon Consultants actual notice, whichever occurs first.


So basically she is forbidding us from discussing things like lost orders, bad product, back ordered items and no refunds. The constitution gives us the freedom of speech, is it legal for her to take that away and forbid us to discuss problems within the company?

Many of us have invested hundreds of dollars on product and samples and have recruited huge downlines, we can't just walk away. But the thought that we might get "terminated" and not paid our past due commissions because she didn't like us discussing the fact that an order has taken 3+ months to get, well that's insane!

Is there anything we can do??
Yes, don't sign the new contract and find another product line to sell.
 

whittibo

Member
Finding another company would have been easy 3 months ago, but since everything appeared to be one way, many of us moved forward and invested money in getting this business started, it's not a case of just moving on, otherwise we lose all the money we invested.

How can someone put it in a contract that we can't discuss problems? How can that be legal?

And in order to get our new site up, and to get into our back offices to view our commissions and such, we HAD to agree to the new terms.

I can see how she can sensor us on HER forum. But in our own private forums and in emails and such?
 

Some Random Guy

Senior Member
The constitution gives us the freedom of speech, is it legal for her to take that away and forbid us to discuss problems within the company?
The constitution limits the GOVERNMENT'S power to restrict speech. What you are describing is a straightforward contractural issue. In exchange for the benefit of continued employment, you agree not to badmouth the company in public. Its so obvious, it shouldn't even need to be in the contract and they should just fire you now.
 

whittibo

Member
The constitution limits the GOVERNMENT'S power to restrict speech. What you are describing is a straightforward contractural issue. In exchange for the benefit of continued employment, you agree not to badmouth the company in public. Its so obvious, it shouldn't even need to be in the contract and they should just fire you now.
Thanks for clarification on the freedom of speech issue.

For the record, I wasn't discussing any "issues" in a public forum, it was a very private restricted forum for only reps of this company. We weren't badmouthing the company, only discussing issues we were having such as orders taking 3+ months to get, missing items, phones and emails not being replied to. Just voicing our concerns and keeping each other "informed".
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
Thanks for clarification on the freedom of speech issue.

For the record, I wasn't discussing any "issues" in a public forum, it was a very private restricted forum for only reps of this company. We weren't badmouthing the company, only discussing issues we were having such as orders taking 3+ months to get, missing items, phones and emails not being replied to. Just voicing our concerns and keeping each other "informed".
and still Irrelevant.
 

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