VII.L. Staff-Issued Conditional Contracts

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Revision as of 13:57, 7 January 2022 by Ellie (talk | contribs) (incorporate Xander's floor amendments from the Board meeting, see 12/8/2018 minutes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13afPteznKIUmbeAGPdmLxPqgAI5QVX_BmjXul4Ij8rs/edit#heading=h.9n39pyfunnvg)
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1. Definition

A conditional contract is a mechanism for the BSC to attempt to resolve conduct and/or safety issues by establishing a behavioral contract that outlines expectations and specifies that a member’s continued membership in the BSC is contingent upon specific aspects of the member’s behavior. For instance, a conditional contract may require that a member refrain from violating the smoking policy in section 25 of the BSC contract, and that failing to do so will result in membership termination. The central level supervisors that may issue a staff-issued conditional contract are the Conduct Hearing Coordinator, Cooperative Experience Manager, the Member Resources Supervisor, the Operations Manager, the Rochdale & Fenwick Apartment Manager, the Cloyne Court Facilities Manager, and the Executive Director.


2. Procedure

The central level supervisor who is assigned to respond to the initial conduct or safety concern will assume the responsibility of issuing the conditional contract. A member has the option to accept the central-level supervisor’s contract subject to all the rights under Policy Directory VII.K.3 or to take the case before the appropriate Enforcement Committee.


3. Member Rights

A member and central-level supervisor may mutually choose to address a conduct issue with a staff-issued conditional contract provided that the following conditions are met:

A. The staff-issued conditional contract will be offered only after the central-level supervisor has researched both sides of the issue.
B. A member does not have to sign the staff-issued conditional contract. No member shall ever be terminated solely for refusing to sign a staff-issued conditional contract. In some cases, signing a staff-issued conditional contract may be beneficial to the member due to either privacy or expediency reasons, but it is always a member’s choice, and their refusal to sign may not be used against them.
C. The central-level supervisor will review each condition of the conditional contract with the member to ensure mutual understanding. The issuing staff member must fully brief the member that it is optional to sign the conditional contract.
D. The member shall have a chance to respond to each condition, and may ask that overly ambiguous conditions be rephrased in more specific language. The central-level supervisor will make a good- faith effort to honor any requests for clearer language in cases when it is reasonably possible to do so.
E. The member may also object to certain conditions and state reasons for the objections. It is at the discretion of the central-level supervisor to remove conditions based on the member’s objections.
F. The member will have at least 72 hours to decide whether to sign the staff-issued conditional contract.
G. The Conduct Member Advisor will be an available resource to help advise the member, including helping to clarify the terms of the staff-issued conditional contract and any concerns the member might have. If the two Conduct Member Advisors are not available as a resource in the 72-hour time frame or if there is a conflict-of-interest, then the central-level supervisor may extend the 72 hour timeframe and/or shall make a good faith effort to locate and reimburse a substitute Conduct Member Advisor.
H. If the member chooses not to sign the staff-issued contract, the issue will be referred to the appropriate Enforcement Committee for consideration. For instance, if a member has been violating the smoking policy, the issue will be referred to the Conduct Committee. It is not possible to predict in advance how the Enforcement Committee will adjudicate the issue (e.g. the committee could dismiss the issue, decide to issue a conditional contract, or decide to terminate the member.)
I. Before signing a staff-issued conditional contract, the member shall be informed of conditions A through H in writing and shall explicitly initial each condition to indicate that this right has been explained to them.
    • [Board-approved 12/6/2018]**