Employee/skater code of conduct

[sk8lady]

Has anyone ever seen a Code of Conduct like this?

Code of Conduct
This code of conduct requires that all officers, directors, employees and volunteers of the organization must, in the course of carrying out the Club's activities:

Behave honestly and with integrity
Act with care and diligence
Treat everyone with respect and courtesy and without harassment
Comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations applicable to the Club
Comply with the rules and regulations of US Figure Skating
Comply with the Club's policies
Comply with all lawful and reasonable direction given by someone in the Club who has authority to give direction
Never provide false, misleading or incomplete information in response to a request for information that is made for official purposes
Use organization resources in proper manner
Never make improper use of inside information of the employee's duties, status, power or authority
Behave in a manner that upholds the Club's values and good reputation
Report all know and suspected violations of the Code of Conduct or other acts described in the Club's policy on suspected misconduct to the Executive Committee


In the fulfillment of these requirements, every officer, director, employee and volunteer of the organization should be able to unequivocally answer "yes in response to each of the following questions with respect to all of their activities carried out as a representative of the Club:

Is my action legal and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations?
Is my action ethical?
Does my action comply with all organization policies?
Am I sure that my action does not in any way appear to be inappropriate to anyone who may observe my behavior?
Am I certain that I would not be embarrassed or compromised if my action became know with the Club or publicly?
Am I sure that my action meets my personal code of ethics and behavior?
Would I feel comfortable defending my actions on the evening news?

The first six are fine, but the requirement to answer any question "for official purposes" smacks of McCarthyism to me and makes me very uncomfortable. Do any other clubs require people, including the skaters, to sign something like this? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? 

[AgnesNitt]

Considering, that in order to be employed I had to sign papers saying that if I lied, or provided false information I would be prosecuted and sent to federal prison, I've got years more experience with documents than whoever wrote this one.

I wouldn't sign it unless the club provided a signed and dated copy of 'all policies'. And when the 'policies' were updated, all members would get a signed copy. 'Policies' that exist in someone's head are dangerous. I'd also demand copies of all relevant state and federal regulations/laws applicable to the club. If the club doesn't have copies them, then question their due diligence. You can't be held to laws and regulations unless they are available to you.

I understand your concern over the ill-defined 'official purposes'.  I don't think it smacks of McCarthyism. McCarthyism's accusing someone of  treason, sedition, or subversion, without evidence. Technically it's a form of state slander.

If you want to push back, you can ask for a definition of 'official purposes' in writing.

Whoever wrote this seems to have cribbed it from someone's HR policy.

[sk8lady]

I understand your concern over the ill-defined 'official purposes'.  I don't think it smacks of McCarthyism. McCarthyism's accusing someone of  treason, sedition, or subversion, without evidence. Technically it's a form of state slander.

I stand corrected...I probably should have said, "McCarthyistic", in terms of the demolition of civil rights in the name of political security (I was picturing our treasurer leaping out onto the ice, taking me completely unawares, and shouting, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a Communist or a member of USA Hockey?"!!!)

I do like the idea of asking for a written, signed, dated copy of all policies since they seem to be emailing me new ones about every five minutes. Someone did mention that they were having issues with bullying at one of the other rinks and that may have been the impetus.

[retired]

You're last sentence rings true.  When there are behavior incidents, rinks tend to pull out the official policies after the problem has started. 

For official purposes would mean if you had to provide information to the rink, the governing organization, a competition chair, in other words, information you would provide as part as your role as an officer, or member etc.   So the test chair shouldn't be fudging qualifications on entry forms as an example, but lets say your treasurer runs away with all the money, you can't deny information the police when they investigate even if the treasurer is your sister and it will send her to jail.   

[Query]

Why do you ask?  

Since you do ask, we know that you have done wrong. We must strap you into the Official USFSA Lie Detector / Electro-Shock Machine. Then we must ask: What is the complete list of the unethical things that you have done, or dreamed of doing, or ethical things that you have failed to do, or dreamed of failing to do, while presenting yourself as a representative of the club, or dreamed of presenting yourself as a representative of the club, or while providing information to the club, or dreamed of providing?

Zap!

But honestly, it sounds pretty mild, compared to the things I've had to sign to get jobs. Let alone the software license agreements we all have to agree to.