[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia CH staff changes in 2013

[Thomas Dalton]

Read what I quoted more carefully, please. It specifically says that
leaving the board before taking up the position isn't enough.

On 10 April 2013 14:23, Ilario Valdelli <valdelli at gmail.com> wrote:
> Personal answer...
>
> You are giving examples and references not compatible with this case.
>
> For instance you give a link of paragraph entitled "payment of a trustee",
> but I have not received any payment and I am still a volunteer.
>
> You refer to this specific case: "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", but *I am not
> employed yet and I received no payments for my service.
>
> *It has been unclear that Wikimedia CH will have the General Assembly the
> 27th April and in that date the board will change. I will start to work
> from 1st May.
>
> As per Swiss bylaws I have been a board member and I did it as volunteer.
>
> I suppose that you have misunderstood
>
> Please be careful of speaking about COI and please do it using the right
> examples.
>
> Regards
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 1:13 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> On 10 April 2013 08:10, Charles Andrès <charles.andres.wmch at gmail.com>
>> 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?
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Ilario Valdelli
> Wikimedia CH
> Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens
> Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre
> Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera
> Switzerland - 8008 Zürich
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