[Foundation-l] Future board meeting (5-7 april 08)

[Dan Rosenthal]

No. For one thing, what is a "directory senior officer"? For another,  
it does not address independent contractors. For a third, it does not  
address the over-broadness of the "shall not...make any statement  
that....is derogatory of Employer". Provision IV's first clause is  
unnecessary, as the agreement would not supersede US laws anyway.

-dan
On Apr 13, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Geoffrey Plourde wrote:

> Is this better?
>
>
> NON-DISPARAGEMENT AND CONSIDERATION.
> I. Both Employer and Employee agree that the free and open exchange  
> of ideas and information among employees, contractors, and agents of  
> the Foundation is to be encouraged.
>
> II. Employee agrees that, during the term of employment and for  
> three years thereafter, Employee shall not, in any communications  
> with the press or other media, or any customer, client or supplier  
> of company, or any of company affiliates, ridicule or make any  
> statement that personally disparages or is derogatory of Employer or  
> its affiliates or any of their respective directors, trustees, or  
> senior officers.
>
> III. Additionally, and in consideration of Employee's covenants in  
> this agreement, no directory senior officer of Employer or member of  
> the Board of Trustees of the Employer will, during the same time  
> period, personally criticize, ridicule or make any statement that  
> personally disparages or is derogatory of Employee.
>
> IV. No provision of this agreement shall be considered to supersede  
> the whistleblower protection laws of the United States of America  
> and the whistleblower protection policy of this Organization.
>
> V. No provision of this agreement shall be considered to preclude  
> complaints to appropriate supervisory personnel
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Dan Rosenthal <swatjester at gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org 
> >
> Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 5:15:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Future board meeting (5-7 april 08)
>
> Agree. That's a godawful policy. For instance, "shall not....make any
> statement that ....is derogatory of employer" means that they cannot
> say "Wikimedia Foundation is not good at this". The reciprocal
> agreement is just as bad. For instance, it only prevents "directory
> senior officer[s] of Employer or member[s] of the Board of Trustees"
> from criticizing the employee. It does not prevent, for instance,
> independent contractors from being critical and disparaging of
> employees, something that, according to some accounts that I've heard,
> has been an issue before.
>
> -Dan
> On Apr 13, 2008, at 7:40 PM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
>
>>> - begin quote -
>>> NON-DISPARAGEMENT AND CONSIDERATION. Both Employer and Employee
>>> agree that the free and open exchange of ideas and information
>>> among employees,
>>> contractors, and agents of the Foundation is to be encouraged.
>>> Employee agrees that, during the term of employment and for three
>>> years thereafter, Employee shall not, in any
>>> communications with the press or other media, or any customer,  
>>> client
>>> or supplier of
>>> company, or any of company affiliates, ridicule or make any  
>>> statement
>>> that personally
>>> disparages or is derogatory of Employer or its affiliates or any of
>>> their respective directors,
>>> trustees, or senior officers. Additionally, and in consideration of
>>> Employee's covenants in
>>> this agreement, no directory senior officer of Employer or member of
>>> the Board of Trustees
>>> of the Employer will, during the same time period, personally
>>> criticize, ridicule or make any
>>> statement that personally disparages or is derogatory of employee.
>>> - end quote -
>>
>> That's lawyerspeak for "You mustn't say bad things about your boss
>> (and vice versa)." I would never have signed that. It doesn't even
>> acknowledge the Whistleblowing policy, which is directly contradicts
>> (presumably that policy takes precedence, but I would have expected  
>> it
>> to be made explicit). The Whistleblowing policy only applies if what
>> you're complaining about is actually illegal. If you just think your
>> boss has been doing an appalling job, you're not allowed to do
>> anything about it. Saying untrue, or purely hurtful things is clearly
>> unacceptable, but anyone should be able to stand up and tell the  
>> truth
>> as they see it.
>>
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>
>
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