LC: 36. PROCEDURES FOR PLACING A HOME ON PROBATIONARY NOTICE
A. A Home can only be placed on Probationary Notice if it violates, contravenes or fails to fulfil the Responsibilities of the Charter Home.
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B. In cases of no or low or late tithe or 1% FAF contribution, no or late Home monthly report, or no or late semi-annual Home Self-Evaluation Checklist, or being in debt for two consecutive months, a Home will automatically be placed on Probationary Notice.
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C. If a continental or area officer determines that a Home should be placed on Probationary Notice, they must:
1. In the case of an area office initiating the Probationary Notice, they must notify the continental office of their intent to do so.
2. Assemble the Home's voting members and declare that they intend to put the Home on first-stage Probationary Notice, specifically stating in which way the Home is violating, contravening or failing to fulfil the Responsibilities of the Charter Home.
3. Attempt to discover, through discussion with the Home members during the assembly, if there are any extraordinary circumstances or valid reasons as to why certain Responsibilities of the Charter Home are not being fulfilled or are being contravened.
a) If the area office determines that the Home has a legitimate reason for contravening or not fulfilling the Responsibilities of the Charter Home, it can stop the procedure and inform the continental office concerning the specifics of the case. The final decision as to whether the Home should be placed on Probationary Notice will then be made by the continental office, which must inform WS leadership.
4. Specifically explain what changes the Home must make. The Home must make those changes within 30 days.
5. Officially declare to the Home's voting members that they are on first-stage Probationary Notice, and also inform the continental office of the Home's status.
a) The continental office will immediately withhold all WS mailings from the Home until such time as the Probationary Notice is lifted.
(1) Homes on Probationary Notice are not permitted to receive new CM mailings from other Charter Members, in accordance with point G. of Offenses Warranting Excommunication.
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The continental or area officers are responsible to place a Home on Probationary Notice if they find the Home is not fulfilling, or is contravening, the Responsibilities of the Charter Home (these include sections 10 - 13 of the Charter). Beginning the procedure is a continental or area office decision, which means that it must have the agreement of the majority of the continental or area officers. So if one CRO or VS was visiting a Home and felt it should be placed on Probationary Notice, he would need to inform and get a majority agreement of the other members of his teamwork. In the case of an area office beginning the procedure to put a Home on Probationary Notice, it would also notify the continental office of their intent to proceed with putting the Home on Probationary Notice.
The continental office must publish in their Bulletin a listing of all Homes which are on Probationary Notice for other than technical infractions*, so that all Homes are aware of any Homes that are on Probationary Notice. (Likewise, a listing of all Homes no longer on Probationary Notice should be published in the Bulletin.) (*Technical infractions include late TRF or tithe, no HSEC report, etc.)
A continental or area office has no authority to allow a Home to contravene or fail to fulfill provisions in the Charter. If an area office discovers what it perceives to be a legitimate reason as to why a Home is not fulfilling, or is contravening the Responsibilities of the Charter Home, the area office must notify the CRO that it is temporarily stopping the procedure, and the CRO will make the final decision on the matter.
b) Home members may not join, or open, another Charter Home during the period of Probationary Notice.
(1) Members of Homes which are on Probationary Notice temporarily relinquish their Right of Mobility, unless they were put on Probationary Notice due to their Home's population being too large.
c) If the Home does not agree that they should be placed on Probationary Notice, they may write to their continental office about the matter. The Home will remain on Probationary Notice pending the continental office's decision.
(1) After consideration of the matter, the continental office will decide if the Home should remain on Probationary Notice.
D. Homes placed on first-stage Probationary Notice have 30 days to make the specified changes. Once the changes are made and verified, the area office must immediately notify the Home and the continental office that the Home is no longer on first-stage Probationary Notice. Upon such notification, the continental office will release all WS mailings held during the 30-day period.
1. Verification is made by one of the following methods:
a) By visitation of a continental or area officer, who will determine by observation, investigation and discussion with the Home members that the changes have been made.
b) If visitation by a continental or area officer is not warranted, practical, or possible at that time, the Home's officers must send a letter to the area and continental offices explaining the changes made. All the Home's officers and at least a simple majority of the other voting members must sign this letter.
E. If after the 30-day period of first-stage Probationary Notice the Home has not made the specified changes, it will be placed on second-stage Probationary Notice for a further 30 days.
1. If at any time during the second 30-day Probationary Notice the Home makes the specific changes, it can seek verification.
2. After verification, the area office must notify the Home and the continental office that the Home is no longer under Probationary Notice. The continental office will resume sending WS mailings to the Home. Mailings missed during the entire period of Probationary Notice will only be sent to the Home once they send the continental office an NPC service charge. The service charge will be determined by the continental office.
If a Home makes the necessary changes during the second period of Probationary Notice, they can begin receiving their current WS mailings. They can also receive mailings missed during their period of Probationary Notice by sending their CRO a $100 NPC service charge. This service charge will cover the expense of the NPC having to fill their order for their missed mailings and putting the Home back on the regular Charter mailing list.
F. If after the 30-day period of second-stage Probationary Notice the Home still has not made the specific changes, it will continue to miss its CM publications, but will begin receiving FM mailings. A continental or area officer must, within 30 days, visit the Home, and through observation, investigation and discussion with Home members decide if there are any of the Home members who might be eligible to retain their Charter membership. The Home will be officially classified as a Fellow Member Home and its members as Fellow Members.
At the end of the period of second-stage Probationary Notice--that is, after being on Probationary Notice for 60 days--if the Home has not made the necessary changes, it will no longer be eligible to receive CM mailings and the CRO will instead begin sending the Home FM mailings. A VS or CRO must visit the Home within the following 30 days to see if anyone in the Home should retain their Charter Member status. Generally, all members of the Home would automatically be put on Fellow Member status at this point, but there may be circumstances that the officer feels qualify certain members to retain their Charter Member status.
As a possible scenario, let's take a Home that has 12 voting members. Nine of its voting members are not doing well, and when the VS tells them what changes need to be made, they either don't agree or just decide not to make the changes for whatever reason. However, the other three voting members want to make the changes, but because the other nine members outvote them they are unable to make the necessary changes.
Because the Home is on Probationary Notice, these three voting members can't exercise their Right of Mobility, so they are stuck in a Home that doesn't want to change and is on its way to Fellow Member status. In such a case, the area officer would visit, listen to their explanation, and after fully investigating the situation has the authority to suggest to the continental office that these three voting members retain their Charter Member status and rights once they move to a Charter Home. The Home will at this point be officially declared a Fellow Member Home and the rest of the members Fellow Members.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family