[Wikimedia-l] Announcing 2 Community Fellow

[Florence Devouard]

Thank you Siko for answering.

That's a mix of "curiosity" (for the benefits, pensions and so on) and 
of "concern" (on the responsibility side of things).

Wikimedia France received several legal complaints in the past few years 
and the frequency is increasing. The inventivity and the boldness of 
lawyers is also getting stronger in trying to prove that the chapter is 
legally responsible for what happen on the French speaking Wikipedia. We 
also had to deal with a volunteer contributor who was taken to court for 
a very regular wiki activity (thank god, ended well). In short, we can 
not pretend there is no "legal" risk.

Aside from this, professionnally speaking, I am a freelancer. I pay 
roughly 1000 euros every year in various insurance to cover my activity. 
Covering any wrong recommandation I may give my clients. Covering any 
material disaster I might create in their office (such as leaking coffee 
on one of their laptop... or worse). Covering legal support for me in 
case I am brought to court.
If I did not pay for such insurance, I would be 100% responsible on my 
own revenue and property (my house and so on).
If I were on staff in a company, the company would cover this (to a 
certain extent of course).

So I am being curious about the status of the fellows. If they do 
anything illegal (voluntarily or not) and are taken to court... are they 
on their own ? (hopefully WMF would help them pay the fees). Or would it 
be WMF considered responsible as their "employer" ?

Florence



On 5/21/12 8:09 PM, Richard Symonds wrote:
> I must admit to being curious, as do at least two others i've spoken to
> about this. With no benefits and no pensions, and what seems like hazy
> employment rights that vary from state to state (not to mention fellows
> from overseas) and person to person, this does seem a little odd. How much
> notice are they given, and what support they are entitled to from the WMF,
> would be very helpful.
>
> I'd  appreciate a more technical explanation so I can understand how the
> WMF deals with people on these short term contracts. :-)
>
> Richard Symonds
> On May 21, 2012 6:35 PM, "Siko Bouterse"<sbouterse at wikimedia.org>  wrote:
>
>> Hi Florence,
>> I guess I didn't do a very good job addressing these questions in the
>> earlier thread, so I'll try one more time :-)
>>
>> Fellowships are temporary roles, so they are not treated as full time staff
>> positions.  They do not receive retirement benefits, and generally the
>> paperwork setup and associated benefits is not like staff, its more like
>> contractor, though again the specifics will vary according to fellowship
>> location, duration, and what US regulation dictates based on these
>> variables.  I am happily ignorant of the liability/insurance side of
>> things, so perhaps someone from the LCA team can address this if needed.
>>
>> Is there a particular issue that makes you ask about this, or just
>> generally curious?
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Siko
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> Message: 2
>>> Date: Sun, 20 May 2012 23:29:51 +0200
>>> From: Florence Devouard<anthere9 at yahoo.com>
>>> To: wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>>> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Announcing 2
>>>         Community       Fellows
>>> Message-ID:<jpbnof$8vl$2 at dough.gmane.org>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>>>
>>> I can not help (I am optimistic with lot's of faith :))
>>>
>>> Does the fellowship status implies that the WMF pays for health or
>>> retirement benefits (as it would for a staff member) or does the fellow
>>> receive a lump sum and manages by himself to pay for taxes and benefits
>>> depending on the country he lives in (as would a contractor) ?
>>>
>>> Does the fellowship status implies that, should the fellow get in
>>> trouble, he would be considered "staff" (in terms of liability) or is he
>>> on his own ? (which in my terms would be "if as staff", he is covered by
>>> WMF insurance versus "if as contractor", he has to pay insurance by
>>> himself).
>>>
>>>
>>> Florence
>>>
>>> --
>> Siko Bouterse
>> Head of Community Fellowships
>> Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
>>
>> sbouterse at wikimedia.org
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