¶ 714.
Provisions Pertaining to Staff--1. No elected general program agency
staff shall hold the same position more than twelve years. Years of service
prior to January 1, 1989, are not counted. The agency responsible for the
election of such staff may annually suspend this provision by a two-thirds
ballot vote.[$FSee Judicial Council Decision 567.]
2. Official travel of the staffs
of agencies shall be interpreted to include all travel that is necessary in the
performance of official duties directly related to the agency functions. No
staff person shall accept honoraria for such official duties. A staff member may
accept an engagement not related to the functions of the employing agency when
such an engagement does not interfere with official duties; the staff member may
accept an honorarium for services rendered in connection with such
engagements.
3. Normal retirement for all
general agency staff personnel shall be at age sixty-five or the completion of
forty years of service to The United Methodist Church in an elective,
appointive, or employed capacity. Mandatory retirement for elective and
appointive staff shall be at age seventy. There shall be no mandatory retirement
age for other employed staff. All general agency staff personnel may elect to
retire from the employing general agency at any time in accordance with the
policy in place at the general agency or, if the general agency has a voting
representative on the Committee on Personnel Policies and Practices of the
General Council on Finance and Administration, with the policy established by
the General Council on Finance and Administration upon recommendation of the
Committee on Personnel Policies and Practices.
4. Provisions of the Staff
Retirement Benefits Program shall be reviewed, with recommendations, by the
Committee on Personnel Policies and Practices (¶
807.9b).
5. The general secretary of the
General Council on Ministries and/or the general secretary of the General
Council on Finance and Administration may convene the general secretaries of the
general agencies as necessary for the purpose of obtaining opinion and
recommendations to assist the councils in discharging their
functions.
6. All general secretaries,
deputy general secretaries, associate general secretaries, and assistant general
secretaries of all general agencies shall be members of The United Methodist
Church. This provision shall not apply to persons employed prior to the 1992
General Conference.[$FSee Judicial Council Decision
426.]
7. No member of the staff of a
general agency shall be eligible for voting membership on any general or
jurisdictional agency of The United Methodist Church, except where the
Discipline specifically provides for such interagency
representation.
8. Elected staff shall be allowed
voice, but not vote in the agency and its subunits.
9. All management staff persons
of general agencies shall be persons who model themselves after the servanthood
of Jesus Christ. They shall be persons of genuine Christian character who love
the Church and are committed to the oneness of the body of Christ, are morally
disciplined and loyal to the ethical standards of The United Methodist Church as
set forth in the Social Principles, and are competent to administer the affairs
of a general agency.
10. Prior to any interviews of
clergypersons for general board or agency staff positions, the bishop of the
clergyperson under consideration shall be consulted at the initiative of the
board or agency.