The buck stops where?
Anyone who agrees to help run a voluntary organisation is probably letting themselves in for a lot of unpaid hard work. A recent case highlighted something worse – the possibility of having to cough up for the organisation’s bills.
A rugby club contracted with a builder to do some work. The bills weren’t paid and the builder sued... the club’s president, who had countersigned the contract. He claimed that it wasn’t his liability, but the court held that potentially it was. The constitution of the club gave the committee authority to enter into contracts, which meant that every member of the committee was jointly liable. The president could ask for contributions from the others, or argue that the builder didn’t deserve to be paid, but he couldn’t simply walk away.
That’s a scary reminder of how onerous an unpaid position can be – you have been warned!