On 10 April 2013 08:10, Charles Andrès <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Thomas, > > Thanks for asking! > > In fact, it was as easy as said :-) Ilario has just never been involved in > the recruitment process. In WMCH we believe that the conflict of interest is > not solved with the resignation, but giving the whole process in the hands of > a committee.
Thank you for clarifying, but it really isn't that easy... Did you seek professional advice from either a charity lawyer or a charity governance expert? I don't know how these things work in Switzerland, but the relevant guidance from the UK Charity Commission can be found here: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Charity_requirements_guidance/Charity_governance/Good_governance/conflicts.aspx#8a "In the case of a trustee also being employed in a separate post within the charity, or a trustee being paid for a service provided to the charity, the conflict of interest may result in a liability to repay salary or other related benefits. It should not be assumed that such conflict can be overcome merely by the person concerned resigning as a trustee, either before or after taking up the post. The only instance where authority may not be needed is where, practically, the trustees can show that there is no conflict of interest. In our view, this is confined to the fairly narrow circumstance where the trustee concerned: * has had no significant involvement with the trustees’ decision to create or retain the post, or with any material aspect of the recruitment process * where that person resigns as a trustee in order to apply for the employed post in advance of a fair and open competition for it All other circumstances require an express authority. " "Authority" in this context means either an express authority in the governing documents of the charity, a court order or permission from the Charity Commission. Under UK guidance, the approach you took would not be at all acceptable. This is a very serious matter. A charity paying a trustee (other than to reimburse actual expenses incurred) is probably the biggest conflict of interest you can get. It needs to be handled extremely carefully. Can you elaborate on how the decision to create the post was carried out (presumably it was part of your annual planning process)? Was Ilario involved in that? _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
