Q. I live in a co-op, and want to move my aging mother into my guest room. Our building doesn’t allow subletting, and the board has sometimes caused headaches for shareholders who have brought in roommates over the years. I feel like this is a different situation, but want to make sure. Do I need board permission before my mom moves in? We’re also looking into her having a home health aide during the day—does that person also need any kind of clearance or approval from the board beforehand? 

                                     —Permission Granted? 

A. “Generally, cooperative boards are private entities, not subject to ‘First Amendment Rights’, as government entities and some government financed organizations are,” says Attorney David Berkey of the law offices of Gallet Dreyer and Berkey in New York. 

 “Certain types of speech are protected by statute, such as the freedom to use speech to unionize a labor force which is protected by the National Labor Relations Act and also by state labor laws.  Other examples are “whistleblower” laws, which protect individuals who report dishonest activity from retribution for providing such information.  Some organizations also have internal rules which protect free speech rights. The particular cooperative’s organizing documents and rules should be checked to determine if they contain any protection for speech.”

 “The type of speech complained of here, complaints about board or management actions, usually do not fall within the type of speech protected by statute.  So some form of retribution for such speech may not be improper. There are protections for those who make claims of board or management misconduct to similarly situated individuals when they are faced with libel and slander suits based on such claims. These are called “qualified immunity” protections.  If the speech was made to a group having similar interests, such as shareholders in a cooperative, the speaker enjoys a “qualified privilege” to make such claims and a libel or slander suit is likely to be dismissed based upon such qualified privilege,” he says. “Note, however, that if the speaker acted with “malice” (a true intent to hurt the target of the speech) then the speaker may lose the protection of that qualified privilege.”

 “Regarding House Rules and fines, Courts are loathe to allow a cooperative to adopt House Rules or policies that would restrict free speech and most cooperatives are not permitted to impose fines at all, since they are a penalty for alleged improper behavior and penalties are usually not permitted to be imposed.”