[members-discuss] Board minutes regarding investigation

Dear Sander, all,

I understand there are many questions about the investigation and I will 
do my best to answer them, bearing in mind that there are people's 
privacy to take into account and that all details of the investigation 
report cannot be revealed.

First, this has been an incredibly difficult experience for the RIPE NCC 
and in particular for the staff member concerned who made an allegation 
of bullying and intimidating treatment by an Executive Board member. We 
therefore took the matter very seriously and engaged the law firm 
BenninkAmar Advocaten to carry out a neutral investigation reporting to 
the rest of the board as announced on 17 May 2022:
https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/ncc-announce/2022-May/001574.html

The law firm we engaged is one that we have used in the past for 
conducting investigations and advising us on sanctions-related matters. 
The Board member under investigation was not involved in the decision to 
start the investigation,  in choosing the law firm we engaged or the 
conclusion.

We have no doubt as to their independence throughout the investigation, 
especially as this was something we insisted upon when engaging them. 
All stakeholders interviewed were informed by the investigator of their 
right to engage their own counsel. Upon request, the legal costs for the 
Board member who was under investigation were covered by the RIPE NCC. 
The RIPE NCC made a claim for recovery of these costs from the Directors 
Liability Insurance.

Our responsibilities extend to good governance of the RIPE NCC, 
including the well-being of the staff. These were our guiding principles 
in setting the scope for the investigating team. The independent 
investigator team was tasked to determine if any non-compliance with 
RIPE NCC internal policies took place or if any applicable laws were 
violated. The RIPE NCC internal policies include the RIPE NCC Code of 
Conduct and the RIPE NCC Whistleblower policy, which gives the reporter 
protection against unfair treatment. The RIPE NCC Code of Conduct is 
more extensive than the RIPE community Code of Conduct but the parts 
regarding bullying and harassment are essentially the same. The RIPE NCC 
Code of Conduct and Whistleblower Policy are both available at:
https://www.ripe.net/about-us/staff/staff-policies

We do regret how long it took to reach a conclusion. We would have 
preferred a quicker outcome but once we started this process we were 
committed to seeing it through. And now the investigation is complete. 
Of course, this does not mean that the matter is closed and in many ways 
it is only the beginning - there is work to be done.

I met with staff, together with the previous Executive Board Chair, to 
talk at length about the investigation and what we could have done 
better. We wanted to do this before we announced the outcome of the 
investigation publicly. We received lots of feedback that both the Board 
and Hans Petter will use to see how we can make improvements should we 
have similar cases in the future. It is clear that we can make changes 
that will benefit the RIPE NCC staff for the years to come.

This has been a huge learning experience for us all. We have learned 
that our processes did not fully cover this situation when it arose. We 
need to do a lot of work as the Executive Board to see that appropriate 
measures are taken to prevent such a situation from recurring and to 
have those measures firmly in place should it happen again.

We also learned a lot from meeting the RIPE NCC staff and from hearing 
their concerns. Many of the concerns they shared with us are ones we 
share, so we are committed to addressing them. There are no real 
positives to be taken from this situation, but the overwhelming support 
we saw from staff for their colleague, who is clearly respected and 
admired by RIPE NCC colleagues and in the community, was something that 
gives us great encouragement.

The changes we propose to make will of course be communicated to members 
and in some cases will even need their support at General Meetings. We 
strive to do better, and to do so we will ask for your help and your 
support. If we can make real changes to ensure the safety and well-being 
of the people who give so much to ensure the Internet works for us all, 
then some good might come from this experience.

Best regards,
Ondřej Filip
RIPE NCC Executive Board Chair


On 17/01/2023 13:48, Sander Steffann wrote:
> Hi board,
> 
> I am looking at the minutes of board meeting 163, and I have a few questions.
> 
> The minutes state that "The investigation was tasked to identify whether there have been violations of the RIPE NCC Code of Conduct”. At the last AGM I asked if there was a Code of Conduct for board members, and as far as I remember there wasn’t any. So which Code of Conduct do you refer to here? If it is different from the RIPE Code of Conduct please provide either a link or the full text.
> 
> Looking at the RIPE Code of Conduct, which applies to all of us in this community, it identifies some examples of positive behaviour, like accepting differing viewpoints and experiences, being considerate and showing empathy towards others, especially when disagreeing or raising issues, and giving/receiving feedback or suggestions in a positive way. It follows with "Behaviours that undermine our values are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
> 
> I have personally definitely seen behaviour contradicting the points mentioned above from the board member in question (and I have heard many others express the same) but apparently they ARE now being tolerated. Please explain this discrepancy between the Code of Conduct and the outcome of this investigation.
> 
> The goals of the Code of conduct are to help everyone feel safe and included and to make everyone aware of expected behaviour. As far as I can see we have failed on both accounts here…
> 
> Sincerely,
> Sander Steffann
> 
> PS: just to make sure, who actually performed the investigation? I assume it was a completely independent party with no previous, current or future ties to the RIPE NCC, financial or otherwise. Please confirm.
> 
> 
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