Ethics Training

IAWP 2008-2009 Board of Directors Orientation June 7, 2008

IAWP Code of Ethics

As a member of IAWP, I will . . .

Uphold the standards of my profession; Search continually for new truths, methods and techniques; Keep myself fully informed of all developments in workforce systems; Cooperate with all others in this field in the use of common knowledge; Accept membership in this association as a personal responsibility; Dedicate myself actively to discharge these obligations; and Declare myself to that end.

Definition of Ethics…

The word "ethics" is derived from the Greek word ethos (character), and from the Latin word mores (customs). Together, they combine to define how individuals choose to interact with one another. Law often embodies ethical principals, and vice versa. Many acts that would be widely condemned as unethical are not prohibited by law -- lying or betraying the confidence of a friend, for example.

Which category applies to you?

I am always ethical.

I am mostly ethical.

I am somewhat ethical.

I am seldom ethical.

I am never ethical.

(The majority of people put themselves in the first or second category. Most people think that being mostly ethical is fine unless they are on the losing end of someone else’s lapse in ethics.)

Ethics Quick Test

1. Is the action legal?

2. Would doing it make me feel bad?

3. Is it consistent with IAWP values and policies?

4.

Would failing to act make the situation worse or allow a “wrong” to continue?

5. Does it follow the Golden Rule?

6. Would I want my parents or children to read about it in the paper?

Ethical Duties

1. Duty of Care 2. Duty of Loyalty 3. Duty of Obedience

Duty of Care

•Discharge duties with care that an ordinary prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances •Should be in the best interests of the association •“Business judgment rule”: Protects board members from personal liability for actions made in poor judgment as long as there is a reasonable basis to indicate that the action was undertaken with due care and in good faith.

Duty of Care

(continued) Pay attention to: •Participation in management: It must be active…  Attend meetings  Evaluate reports  Read minutes  Review performance of officers and staff •Reasonable inquiry: Ask about…  Reported problems  Reports that don’t look right

Exercise: What’s Bothering You?

Anybody want to share?

What bothers you the most? The least?

Pay careful attention to the 5s!

Duty of Loyalty

•Undivided allegiance to association •Conflicts of interest

Exercise: Ethical Values on the Job

Anybody want to share?

Which is most important to you? Least important?

•Constitution

Duty of Obedience

•Bylaws •Federal & State Laws •Association Ethics Guidelines

Ethics Guidelines

• Integrity • Mission • Obligations of Board Members • Legal Obligation • Fiduciary Duties • Conflicts of Interest • Openness and Disclosure • Confidentiality • Non-Discrimination/Anti-Harassment • Program Evaluation • Fundraising • Ethics Complaints • Complaint Protection

Integrity

All staff, board members and volunteers of IAWP should act with honesty, integrity and openness in all their dealings as representatives of the association. The association promotes a working environment that values respect, fairness and integrity.

Mission

“The International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP) is a worldwide professional association available to all individuals with a common interest in workforce systems. IAWP equips members for success providing the highest quality of education, leadership, information exchange, and recognition of excellence through a network of local, regional and International chapters preparing members for the workforce challenges of tomorrow.”

•All programs should support this mission.

•All who work for or on behalf of IAWP understand and are loyal to the mission

Obligations of Board Members (Part 1)

•Attend meetings.

•Keep informed.

•Oppose actions with which you disagree.

•Challenge decisions you think violate legal or financial obligations.

•Participate in discussions for votes BEFORE deciding how to vote.

•Respect and support the decisions of the board.

•Respect and follow the chain of command.

•Respect the work and recommendations of the committees.

Obligations of Board Members (Part 2)

•Make sure the board continues to be a policy-making, governing body. (Don’t micromanage!) •Obtain or maintain skills to help you carry out your board duties.

•Make sure leadership provides you with enough information to make sound decisions.

•Ensure hiring and promotion practices are fair.

•Make sure policies are in writing and officially adopted.

•Make sure association resources are prudently managed.

•Make sure the association has the capacity to carry out programs effectively.

•Board members are held to a higher standard, with added responsibilities past their duties as just members.

Legal Obligation

(Tools for Duty of Obedience)

Board members must be knowledgeable of laws governing their association. These include: •IAWP Constitution and Bylaws •Federal Laws: IRS designation, employment laws •State Laws: Volunteer Law, state taxes

Fiduciary Duties

You need to manage the association funds responsibly and prudently. You need to make sure that IAWP: •Spends a reasonable percentage of its annual budget on programs related to its mission.

•Spends an adequate amount on administrative expenses to make sure there are effective tools in place to manage the association.

•Has reasonable fundraising support.

•Does not accumulate excessive operating funds.

•Draws from reserves prudently to support the mission.

•Has spending practices that are appropriate to fulfill the mission.

•Provides accurate and complete financial reports.

Conflicts of Interest

The purpose and integrity of the association MUST be placed above a board members personal interests. Board members should: •Not place their personal or professional interests in conflict with the interest of the association •Not benefit personally or financially from any dealing with the association •Avoid any impropriety or appearance of impropriety in their duties with IAWP •Not request or accept personal payments, favors, or gifts of substantial value from current or potential vendors •Not participate in activities that are competitive with IAWP •Declare any personal, business, or professional involvements that conflict with IAWP and recuse themselves from those activities if called upon by the board or International president

Exercise: Case Study—The Book

A board member writes a book about the workforce industry. The book is a useful tool, a good book, and talks about all kinds of issues that are helpful and useful to those in the industry. The quality and value of the book to someone in the industry is indisputable. However, the board member approaches the board with an idea. The idea is that the association purchases a block of books at a discounted and then makes the book available to members of the association at either a discounted price or free as a part of their membership. Does this create a breach of duty?

If so, which duty (care, loyalty or obedience)?

Openness and Disclosure

•Provide comprehensive and timely information to the public, the media, and all stakeholders •All association information will reflect the policies and practices of the association.

•All solicitation materials will reflect the mission of IAWP.

•All reports will be complete and accurate.

Confidentiality

•Board members should not share (with relatives, friends or business/professional associates) any information obtained through their board membership unless there is a legitimate reason. •Board members should exercise great care to avoid improper disclosures of confidential information.

•This is not intended to prevent disclosure where disclosure is required by law.

Non-Discrimination/Anti-Harassment

IAWP is committed to equal opportunity for all persons without regard to gender, age, race, color, religion, creed, national origin, marital status, disability or sexual orientation.

Accordingly, IAWP will not tolerate discrimination against or harassment of any of our employees, volunteers, or others present at our facilities by anyone, including any supervisor, co worker, vendor, client, or customer of IAWP.

Non-Discrimination

Unlawful discrimination includes treating someone less well in opportunities for work, promotions, shifts, overtime or other conditions of employment because of his or her race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability or other protected attribute. Examples: words, gestures, stories, jokes or nicknames that are derogatory, demeaning or insulting to a person based upon his or her race, national origin, gender, disability, age, religion or other protected attribute.

Harassment

Harassment consists of unwelcome or unwanted conduct, whether verbal, physical or visual, that is based upon a person's protected status.

Sexual harassment consists of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature and constitute sexual harassment when it is: • a term or condition of an individual's employment; • used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual; or unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

Harassment

(continued) Sexual harassment examples: unwanted sexual advances or propositions, offering employment benefits in exchange for sexual favors, making or threatening reprisals after a negative response to sexual advances, sexual innuendo, suggestive comments, sexually oriented "kidding" or "teasing", jokes about gender-specific traits, making sexual gestures or comment, displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures, cartoons or postures, impeding or blocking another's movement, physical contact, such as patting, pinching, or brushing against another's body , continued requests for a date after a rejection

Program Evaluation

Board members shall be committed to improving program and organizational effectiveness. It should also evaluate program performance through board reports and the annual stewardship report from the president.

Fundraising

Since IAWP raises funds from the public or from donor institutions, board members should be truthful in their solicitation materials and respect the privacy concerns of individual donors and expend funds consistent with donor intent. Donors should: •Be informed of the mission of IAWP, the way the resources will be used and their capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes; •Be informed of the identity of those serving on the association’s governing board and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities; •Receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition

Ethics Complaints

IAWP has an ethics violation complaint process in place.

1. Complaint must be received in writing on the IAWP complaint form within twenty (20) days after the occurrence of the alleged act. 2. Form must provide specific details and be sent to the President elect who is the chair of the committee. 3. Chair will advise the member(s) who are subject to the allegation and provide them with a written copy of the allegation within fifteen (15) days and request a written response within twenty (20) days.

4. Once responses are received, the chair will provide copies of the allegation and all responses to the members of the committee and convene a meeting to discuss.

Ethics Complaints

(continued) 5. The committee will determine if complaint has merit and decide next steps.

6. The committee will file a written report of findings and their recommendation to the Board of Directors within twenty (20) days.

7. The board of directors must act to state either their concurrence or disagreement with the Ethics Committees findings.

Complaint Protection (Whistle-blowing)

•No director, officer or employee who in good faith reports a violation of law, rule, mandated regulation or public policy shall suffer harassment, retaliation or adverse employment/participation consequence. •This policy is intended to encourage and enable employees and board members to raise concerns within the association. •Anyone filing a complaint must be acting in good faith and have reasonable grounds for believing the information disclosed indicates a violation. They must also follow the Complaint Procedure outlined above.

Officer & Director Protection

Volunteer Protection Laws

Kentucky has a law (KRS 411.200) that states that “Any person who serves as a director, officer, trustee or volunteer of a non profit organization and is not compensated for their services is immune from civil liability for an act or omission resulting in damage or injury, if they acted in good faith and within the scope of their duties.” Damage caused by willful or wanton misconduct is the exception.

Insurance

The association has Officer and Director insurance that covers IAWP and insured individuals for claims of wrongful acts.

Insured Individuals include: Director, Officer, Governor, Trustee, Equivalent executive, Employee (paid or not), Volunteer, Leased/temporary employee, Committee member Wrongful acts means any actual or alleged: Act, Error, Omission, Misstatement, Misleading statement, Neglect, Breach of duty, Personal & Advertising Injury (false arrest, Malicious prosecution, Oral or written material that slanders or libels, material that violates a persons right of privacy, Wrongful eviction/entry/ invasion of a person’s right of privacy, Misappropriation of advertising ideas, Infringement of copyright or trademark

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

•Directors cannot remain willfully ignorant of the affairs of the association. Officers and directors acting

outside of or abusing

their authority as officers and directors may be subject to

personal

liability arising from such actions. •Furthermore, officers or directors who, in the course of the association's work,

intentionally

cause injury or damage to persons or property may be personally liable, even though the activity was carried out on behalf of the association.

Minimize Your Risk!

Association officers and directors can help minimize their risk of personal liability by doing the following: •Being thoroughly and completely prepared before making decisions. •Becoming actively involved in deliberations during board meetings. •Making decisions deliberately and without undue haste or pressure. •Insisting that meeting minutes accurately reflect actions taken at meetings. •Requesting that legal consultation be sought on any matter that has unclear legal ramifications.

Minimize Your Risk!

(continued) •Requesting that the association's accountants assess and evaluate any matter that has significant financial ramifications. •Obtaining and carefully reviewing both audited and unaudited periodic financial reports of the association. •Attending the association's meetings and reading the association's publications carefully to keep fully apprised of the organization's policies and activities. •Reviewing from time to time the association's articles of incorporation, bylaws and other governing documents. •Avoiding completely any conflicts of interest in dealing with the association and fully disclosing any potential conflicts.

Resources

•Are you making the most of your inner Dr. King?

•Ten Ethical Mistakes to Avoid •On the web… • www.nonprofitrisk.org

: The Nonprofit Risk Management Center • www.snpo.org

: The Society for Nonprofit Organizations • www.boardsource.org

: Building Effective Nonprofit Boards

Before we go, a few quotes about ethics…

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

Eric Hoffer

Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.

Mark Twain

Don’t part company with your ideals. They are anchors in a storm.

Arnold Glasgow

Beware of the half-truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.

Anonymous

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

H. Jackson Brown