Joy Mathews Partner, BPHE (Kin.), BA, MA, JD Rutherford & Mathews, PC Barristers & Solicitors
Staff Bonuses
Holiday Gifts or “Secret Commissions”? Do You Know the Difference?
Acknowledging the efforts of an outstanding employee is always a good thing and leads to many residual benefits: loyalty, better service, and R.E.S.P.E.C.T.! Holiday bonuses are indeed a tangible way of demonstrating that you value the respective employee’s contributions to your condo community.
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? Secret Commissions! Bribery has been considered an evil practice which threatens the foundations of any civilized society. Often receiving front-page news headlines, governments and big business are vulnerable to allegations of offering, giving, receiving or soliciting items of value in exchange of “greasing” transactions. Condominiums, as the fourth-level of government, and their respective boards are no less protected against disgruntled (and politically motivated) owners from such attacks. The Criminal Code sets out in Section 426(1) (a) the offence related to secret commissions, which provides as follows: 426 (1) Every one commits an offence who (a) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or agrees to give or offer to an agent or to anyone for the benefit of the agent — or, being an agent, directly or indirectly, corruptly demands, accepts or offers or agrees to accept from any person, for themselves or another per-
son — any reward, advantage or benefit of any kind as consideration for doing or not doing, or for having done or not done, any act relating to the affairs or business of the agent’s principal, or for showing or not showing favour or disfavour to any person with relation to the affairs or business of the agent’s principal. What does this mean? The key words which are required to prove the offence are “corrupt provider” or “corrupt receiver” and occurs when an agent dishonestly accepts money or other benefits from another party in return for agreeing to depart from a duty he owes to his principal. A likely analogous scenario in the condominium context would be when a director offers or agrees to give something (e.g. holiday gifts) to a person who acts as an agent for the condo (e.g. property manager, superintendent, etc…) for the benefit of that director only. For example, if a board member wants his washing machine fixed and mentions that to the condominium’s superintenCONDOVOICE WINTER 2017
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ILLUSTRATION BY ROSS MCDONALD
ILLUSTRATION BY MAURICE VELLEKOOP
Why Bother Giving Gifts? The friendly superintendent who always smiles when you walk by. The diligent property manager who responds to any of your concerns, not only quickly but with a sense of small-town friendliness (the kind that promotes a close-knit community and is so often missing these days!). Your security guard who gives you the reassuring nod that everything is going to be ok and the junior site-administrator who seems to know where to find everything in the office. These are the people who work for your condominium corporation and are deserving of special acknowledgment. Boards often struggle at how to acknowledge their praiseworthy efforts and when the holidays approach, questions of whether it is appropriate to provide a bonus become a pressing board issue.