Hi,
On Sa, 2014-09-27 at 11:45 -0400, Marina Zhurakhinskaya wrote:
> Yes. The legal liability is only for gross negligence, recklessness or
> intentional wrongdoing. This is covered on
> https://wiki.gnome.org/OutreachProgramForWomen#Contracts
OK, I am very late to the thread, but I did read trough the contracts
and I do have some concerns.
As I understand it, the whole point is to protect all parties involved
from lawsuits. However, the contract seems to be biased a lot toward
GNOME, and I am not sure it protects the mentors properly. It also seems
that there may be liabilities attached to being a mentor, and I do think
that the foundation should protect everyone involved (i.e. trough
insurance policy and if necessary using the contracts).
Some notes about what I would expect and how I read the current
contracts:
* If someone starts a civil lawsuit against me, I do want my local
jurisdiction to apply. I have no way of properly defending
myself if a US court is responsible. I do understand that the
foundation does not want to be sued outside the country it is
based, but the same is true for everyone involved.
* Many mentors may not have their own insurance which protects
them in the case of negligence. I would hope that the foundation
ensures that everyone is protected (personally I do have an
insurance that should cover it).
* Does one even need a written contract for gross negligence? I
have little clue about laws (even less so about US laws), but I
would have thought it pretty much impossible to sue the
foundation directly. (I guess Bradley answered this by saying
that it is required as otherwise *both* GNOME and the mentor
might be liable.)
* Reading the contract I have the feeling that I would be fully
liable as a mentor. And I even explicitly state in the contract
that I have to answer in a timely manner. So right now the
contract does look to me like it is primarily designed to
protect the foundation (which is good), but to me it seems like
it may not properly protect the other parties involved. (i.e.
for mentors “Mentoring Activities” says I have to get work done;
then “Relationship of Parties” says that I am not an agent of
the foundation and in “Limitation of Liability” “GNOME, its
officers, directors, employees, or suppliers” are deemed not to
be liable. It does sound to me like this does not restrict the
liability of the mentor in any way.
As an example corner case. A student does not finish the internship
successfully and claims it is the mentors fault (because they did not
answer in a timely manner, or similar). Can the student sue the mentor
or the foundation for damages (i.e. the stipend, or even a much larger
amount)?
I am aware that the whole point of the contract is to ensure that the
risk of a civil lawsuit is minimized for everyone involved. However,
right now I would be very reluctant to sign this contract without some
further explanations.
Benjamin
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