Robert's Rules of Order

[JennK2009]

ILLINOIS

Immediately following the loss of an election, our current Business Manager asked the membership how we wanted her use up her vacation time. Current policy dictates that the locals’ staff takes their vacation time by their anniversary. (Two weeks are given immediately at hire)

The members approved a motion that the BM would take the remainder of the vacation beginning that Friday (the meeting was Tuesday night) and take the three weeks left.

Two weeks later, the Executive Board approved a motion to pay the vacation after the BM leaves office. In effect, the BM kept working, and did not take any vacation days.

The members are quite upset that the Executive Board did not respect the approved motion from a regular membership meeting. They are rallying together to somehow overthrow this decision of the Executive Board at our next regular membership meeting.

Is this possible, and what would the vote require?

At regular meetings, a motion needs a 2/3 vote to null and void an approved motion from the last meeting. (Which we have done in the past)

I'm guessing this is not state sensitive, but I really don't know. Thanks in advance for any ideas.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[ERAUPIKE]

ILLINOIS

Immediately following the loss of an election, our current Business Manager asked the membership how we wanted her use up her vacation time. Current policy dictates that the locals’ staff takes their vacation time by their anniversary. (Two weeks are given immediately at hire)

The members approved a motion that the BM would take the remainder of the vacation beginning that Friday (the meeting was Tuesday night) and take the three weeks left.

Two weeks later, the Executive Board approved a motion to pay the vacation after the BM leaves office. In effect, the BM kept working, and did not take any vacation days.

The members are quite upset that the Executive Board did not respect the approved motion from a regular membership meeting. They are rallying together to somehow overthrow this decision of the Executive Board at our next regular membership meeting.

Is this possible, and what would the vote require?

At regular meetings, a motion needs a 2/3 vote to null and void an approved motion from the last meeting. (Which we have done in the past)

I'm guessing this is not state sensitive, but I really don't know. Thanks in advance for any ideas.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

It does depend on which edition of Robert's Rules of Order your bylaws specify to be used in meetings.

At the next meeting you can raise a point of parliamentary inquiry. You can ask the chair for their opinion on the matter. You could also possibly move to amend the previous motion in order to more clearly state the parameters in which you wish the business manager to use the vacation time. This motion only requires a majority vote with previous notice. If no previous notice it requires either a two-thirds or majority vote, whichever is more practical. If the membership feels that someone on the board has overstepped their bounds, a motion to censure that individual is always in order.

 

[JennK2009]

Thank you!

Thank you very much for clarifying this, along with the suggestions. I wish I had asked this question a year ago.

On a side note, our bylaws only say "Robert's Rules of Order." I did not realize there are different versions of this. Thanks again for helping us. Fortunately, our leadership changes tonight, when we swear in a new BM and President.

 

[JennK2009]

new twist

At the meeting, we were able to NOT accept the action of the Executive Board regarding the BM’s accrued vacation pay.

She continued to work so she feels entitled to the pay, stating we have no right to tell her when to take her vacation. (Remember, she asked the membership what to do regarding her accrued vacation time at the previous meeting.)

She did do some important work (regarding concession negotiations), but the point is that we voted for her to take her vacation immediately.

After the meeting, we discussed the legality of refusing to pay the accrued vacation time. The problem is that we do not know how much she actually “worked” during this time, because the day after she lost the election, she fired our Administrative Assistant. Approximately two weeks later, the Business Rep was also dismissed. No explanations and no witnesses.


Should we just pay her for “time worked” and not the pay for the accrued vacation pay? After suffering through her “BM discretion” for three years, our new BM is tempted to use HIS “BM discretion” and not pay her for the unused vacation days.

Obviously, since we are a union, we need to be fair (and follow the law) to our own employees.

Thanks for any insight.