On 03/05/16 08:27, James Heilman wrote:
As for my willingness to share all communications with the entire board, I believe I managed to communicate all relevant details without violating the explicit confidence requested of me by staff members. (Note that in later conversations I was informed that it may not be legal for board members to promise confidentiality to individual staff, as our ultimate duty is to the WMF as a whole).
Board members have a duty to act in the interests of the WMF as a whole, but it does not follow that denying anonymity to whistleblowers is in the best interests of the WMF. In fact, I think this Lila/KF/KE case demonstrates the opposite.
I would encourage the Board to extend the current whistleblower policy to provide protection to employees making anonymous complaints via certain intermediaries (such as active Board members), rather than requiring complaints to be made directly to the Chair of the Board; and to specify that the forwarding of such anonymous reports by Board members to the Chair would be permissible.
If we want to avoid a repeat of this affair, then employees should be encouraged to communicate serious concerns to the Board as early as possible.
-- Tim Starling