PDGA Updates Disciplinary Policy & Process and Community Guidelines Policy

The professional staff of the Professional Disc Golf Association are constantly evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of how our policies operate. While we prefer to make smaller, more frequent adjustments it was clear that nearly five years into the adoption of a comprehensive disciplinary policy, some structural changes were warranted. The revision process occurred through several iterations over several months and involved PDGA staff and the PDGA Disciplinary Committee. Accordingly, effective November 7, 2024, the PDGA has revised our Disciplinary Policy & Process and Community Guidelines Policy. These changes are effective upon publication and do not apply retroactively to disciplinary actions filed prior to publication.

Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of the Committee has been expanded in two important ways. One is that it is now explicit that stalking and harassment does not need to primarily or exclusively happen at PDGA events to be a matter for the Committee, but just needs a connection to PDGA-sanctioned play. The other is that, in extraordinary circumstances, the Committee may hand out punishments for "off the field" conduct. The conduct must be extreme - the policy uses violent crime as an example - and the voting threshold for taking such a case is higher than a simple majority.

Types of Offenses and Standard Punishments

The previous policy had five relatively broad classes of offense: A, B, C, D, and E. As the raw number of cases has increased alongside the membership's growth, it has become clear that more granularity is needed to assist the Committee in making determinations. Accordingly, we have created offense subclasses with their own standard penalties. Here are some of the most salient changes and additions:

• A credible threat of physical harm is now a Class A2 with a standard penalty of 18 months suspension and 12 months probation. Formerly, this was a Class A with the same standard penalty as actually hitting someone (24 months suspension and 12 months of probation).
• Sexual harassment of a minor is now its own offense, Class A3, and has a harsher standard penalty than sexual harassment of an adult.
• Habitual courtesy violations are now Class C3 offenses whose standard penalty for a first offense is a warning letter.
• A first offense of mere use of alcohol or cannabis during a round, without any other actionable behavior, is no longer a disciplinary matter and is properly addressed by disqualification from the event. Habitual violations are covered by Class C2, "repeated violations of the same rule(s)" without intent to cheat.
• Tournament Director violations of the Sanctioning Agreement related to enforcement of the rules - like refusing to issue penalties or disqualification where it's clearly warranted - is now included as Class D3.
• The 888 ratings code is being taken out of use in the near future. Instead, ratings manipulation will be addressed under Class D4. We will announce when the updated Event Report is ready. In the interim, please continue to use the 888 code.

Review of Committee Decisions

Previously, the Board Liaison reviewed every decision of the Committee and had the authority to instruct the Committee to reconsider penalties based on their reading of the evidence. Now, Policy & Compliance reviews Committee decisions for what's called "clear error," which means an obvious mistake. If the Committee had two cases before them involving failure to keep score properly, and one had solid evidence of intent to cheat and the other did not, and the Committee mixed up the offense classes when issuing penalties, then Policy & Compliance would discuss and correct the error. Otherwise, the Committee's decision stands, pending appeal. Appeals of jurisdictional determinations and final decisions of the Committee are still heard by a panel of the Board of Directors.

Readability

The PDGA is committed to making our governing documents easier to read and more accessible to our membership. Because the Disciplinary Policy & Process uses legal language by its nature, there is only so much we can do to improve readability. That said, using the Fleisch-Kincaid readability scale, the 2020 version was a 35.27 (higher is easier to read) and this revision is a 41.33, an improvement. This new version is easier to cite and largely avoids complex paragraphs of text in favor of the outline format we use for the Official Rules of Disc Golf and the Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events.

Community Guidelines Policy

The first Community Guidelines were published in 2022. This revision primarily converts that document into outline format, but it also clarifies the penalties and the contemplated conduct. Finally, it adds credible threats of violence against an identifiable PDGA member, regardless of where the threats are made, as a violation.

The PDGA is committed to constantly examining and improving our policies and procedures to best serve our membership.