Generally, management’s employees are the responsibility of management and the board should avoid blurring those lines or run the risk of being deemed a joint employer and being subject to certain liability as such. While generally directors should not be involved in day-to-day management, certain leeway is afforded to the board president who often must interact directly and frequently with management. Best practices dictate that there should be a point person with management that liaises directly with the board president and the board president should direct inquiries to that designated person only. An employee who is not that designated person but receives directives from the board president directly should inform their direct supervisor or general manager and be guided by the supervisor’s instructions accordingly. As a practical matter, the employee should not confront the director or “insist” that the director do anything, but rather should inform the director that the request will be directed to the appropriate person and then inform his/her supervisor or general manager of the request.
Nancy Durand
Spolzino Smith Buss & Jacobs LLP
733 Yonkers Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10704
(914) 476-0600
ndurand@sbjlaw.com
www.ssbjlaw.com
Generally, a management company acts as the agent of the Board of Directors (the “Board”). The Board is supposed to dictate the actions of the management company but typically they follow the recommendations of management personnel. Oftentimes, the President is the liaison between the management company and the President may provide direction.
Depending on the circumstances, a general manager may try to “protect” a person on the management staff. However, ultimately the board hires the management company and should not tolerate management personnel who they do not like. The Association could terminate the management company if they are not happy with the services performed.
David Hellmuth
Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC
8050 West 78th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55439
(952) 746-2107
dhellmuth@hjlawfirm.com
www.hjlawfirm.com
The management agreement dictates who is allowed to provide directives to the managing agent. It can be the president, the general manager or both, depending on the language in the management agreement.
Rinaldo Acri
ACRI Commercial Realty
290 Perry Highway, Suite 1
Pittsburgh, PA 15229-1864
(412) 459-0111
rinaldo.acri@acrirlty.com
www.acrirlty.com