Terms of Use
Welcome to the Affiliate of SHRM (the “Affiliate,” “we,” “us,” “our”). These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of our website and any other online or offline events, programs or services we provide (collectively, the “Services”), including any electronic content, media, functionality, features and applications (collectively, “Materials”) offered on or through the Services. Note that a SHRM “Affiliate” as used here does not mean the entity is a legal affiliate of SHRM.
SHRM affiliates provide: a local forum for personal and professional development; an opportunity to develop leadership, managerial, public speaking and group decision-making skills; a local networking arena; and a focus for legislative attention to local, state, and national human resource management issues.
1. Agreement
Please read these Terms (which include, by reference, our posted Privacy Policy) before using our Services. By using the Services, you agree to our posted Terms and Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy, or if you violate either of them, you may not use the Services. We may, in our sole discretion, modify, alter, or update these Terms at any time, and using the Services after we post such an update constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. You represent that you are of legal age to form a binding contract with us, and if you use our Services on behalf of an organization, you represent that you can and do accept our Terms on behalf of the organization (and references to “you” or “your” apply to both you and your organization). If you entered into a specific agreement with us, the terms of that agreement will control to the extent there is any conflict with these terms. PLEASE SEE SECTIONS 10-12 BELOW REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS IN ANY DISPUTE INVOLVING OUR SERVICES, INCLUDING MANDATORY ARBITRATION AND A WAIVER OF RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL OR CLASS ACTION.
2. Notice Regarding SHRM
Membership in a local SHRM chapter is separate from SHRM membership. Some chapters require membership with SHRM in order to be a member of the chapter, but you can generally attend meetings at chapter events without being a SHRM or chapter member.
Local SHRM chapters, SHRM forums, Staffing Management Chapters, Chapter and State Councils, and other such organizations (collectively, “SHRM-Associated Organizations”) may be authorized to use the SHRM brand and coordinate with SHRM, but they are legally and operationally independent from SHRM. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT SHRM IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF SHRM-ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATIONS, AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL SHRM BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT ARISE IN CONNECTION WITH A SHRM-ASSOCIATED ORGANIZATION.
3. Prohibited Activities
You agree not to: (a) decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, reduce the Services to human readable form or create derivative works based upon the Services or any part thereof; (b) disable any licensing or control features of the Services; (c) introduce into the Services any virus or other code or routine intended to disrupt or damage the Services, or alter, damage or delete any Materials, or retrieve or record information about the Services or its users; (d) merge the Services or Materials with another program or create derivative works based on the Services or Materials; (e) remove, obscure, or alter any notice of the copyright or other proprietary legends on the Services or Materials; (f) sublicense, assign, translate, rent, lease, lend, resell for profit, distribute or otherwise assign or transfer the Materials or access to the Services to others; (g) use, or allow the use of, the Services or Materials in violation of any applicable laws or regulations; (h) otherwise act in a fraudulent, illegal, misleading, malicious or negligent manner when using the Services; (i) post violent, defamatory, indecent, sexually explicit, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful or other inappropriate photos or other content, including any posts intended for defaming, stalking, bullying, abusing, harassing, threatening, impersonating, harming, impersonating or intimidating people or entities; (j) create, solicit, transmit, or procure the sending of, any unwanted, unsolicited or harassing comments or communications, including advertising or promotional material, without our prior written consent, including any “junk mail,” “chain letter,” “spam” or any other similar solicitation; (k) access or use the Services by means of any automated program, expert system, electronic agent or “bot”; (l) give any other person or entity unauthorized access to the Services; or (m) scrape, copy, republish, license, or sell the information or Materials on the Services.
4. Your Account and User Content
If we allow you to create a user account for any of our Services, you are responsible for any activity that occurs through your account, and you agree you will not sell, transfer, license, or assign your Account, username, or any account rights. All information you provide or provide to us must be true, accurate, current, and complete, and you agree to update your information as necessary to maintain its truth and accuracy. You are responsible for keeping your password for the Services (if any) secret and secure. If anyone other than yourself uses your credentials (or credentials you assigned to them) to access your account, they may also perform actions available to you, and view or make changes to your account, and all such activities will be deemed to have occurred on your behalf, whether or not specifically authorized by you. You should therefore only share account credentials with people you trust, and will be solely and fully responsible for all activities that occur under your account, and for any damages, expenses, or losses that may result from such activities.
The Services we provide may contain presentation materials and recordings from our events, articles and publications, social media content, and other materials that you post, submit, publish, display, or transmit (hereinafter, “post”) via our Services, such as to affiliate members or the public (collectively, “User Content”).
You represent and warrant that: (a) all of your User Content does and will comply with these Terms; (b) you own or control all rights to the User Content posted by you on or through the Services or otherwise have the right to grant the rights and licenses set forth in these Terms; (c) You will pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owed by reason of User Content you post on or through the Services; (d) You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Content you submit or contribute, and you, not us, have fully responsibility for such materials, including its legality, reliability, accuracy, and appropriateness; and (e) we are not responsible or liable to any third party for the content or accuracy of any User Content posted by you or any other user of the Services. We are not a backup service, and you agree that you will not rely on the Services for the purposes of storing User Content. We will not be liable to you or third-party beneficiaries for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Services, or the loss of any User Content.
You hereby grant us a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute, and otherwise disclose to third parties the User Content that you post through the Services or otherwise provide to us, subject to our Privacy Policy. User Content will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. Furthermore, our Services may be subject to a compromise of security, and the submission of User Content or other information you provide may not be secure. It is in our sole discretion to share, reproduce, publish, or post through the Services any User Content submitted by you or on your behalf.
If you choose to send us content, information, ideas, feedback suggestions, or other materials, you agree that we are free to use it for any purposes whatsoever, including, without limitation, developing and marketing products and services, without any liability or payment of any kind to you.
5. Privacy and Security
Personal information collected by us in connection with the Services will be maintained in accordance with our posted Privacy Policy.
6. Intellectual Property Rights
We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Services for lawful and intended purposes in accordance with these Terms and our Privacy Policy. The Services contain Materials owned or licensed by us, including name, logo, text, images, audio/visual works, icons and scripts, and other materials provided on or through the Services. Except as provided herein, none of the Materials may be copied, distributed, displayed, downloaded, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from us or the third-party owner. Unauthorized use of any Materials provided by the Services may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity, and/or other regulations and statutes. Except as expressly provided herein, we and our third-party licensors reserve all rights with respect to the Services and Materials. We may pursue legal action under applicable laws and/or report to law enforcement for any violations, and we may terminate the account of any user believed to violate our Terms. We may also disable any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our sole discretion.
Trademarks and service marks that may be referred to in the Services are our property or their respective owners. Nothing in the Services should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any trademark without our written permission. You are not authorized to use our company and brand names and logos without express written permission, except to the extent otherwise permitted by law.
We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we prohibit users of our Services from submitting, uploading, posting, or otherwise transmitting any materials that violate another person’s intellectual property rights or these Terms. If you believe that any material available on or through the Services infringes upon any copyright you own or control, please immediately notify us via the contact information provided at the end of these Terms.
7. Materials
We may update the content in our Services and Materials from time to time, but it will not necessarily be complete or up-to-date. You acknowledge that we may not always identify promoted services or content, or commercial communications as such. Although it is our intention for the Services to be available as much as possible, there may be occasions when the Services may be interrupted, including, without limitation, for scheduled maintenance or upgrades, for emergency repairs, or due to failure of telecommunications links and/or equipment. We may remove any content from the Services for any reason, without prior notice. Content removed from the Services may continue to be stored by us, including, without limitation, in order to comply with certain legal obligations, but may not be retrievable without a valid court order or similar legal process.
8. Links in the Services
Although we may control some of the hyperlinks in the Services, other links within the Services may lead to third-party sites such as online retailers and social media platforms. We include these third-party links solely as a convenience to you. The presence of a link does not imply an endorsement of the linked site, its operator, or its contents, or that we are in any way affiliated with the linked site. The Services do not incorporate any materials appearing in such linked sites by reference. We reserve the right to terminate a link to a third-party website at any time. The third-party sites are not controlled by us, and may have different terms of use and privacy policies, which we encourage you to review.
9. Linking to the Services
You may link to our website homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part without our express written consent. The Services may provide certain social media features that enable you to: link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on our Services; send communications with certain content, or links to certain content, using the Services; or cause limited portions of content on the Services to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites. You may use these features solely as they are provided by us, and must not otherwise: establish a link from any website that is not owned by you; cause the Services or portions of it to be displayed on, or appear to be displayed by, any other site (for example, scraping, framing, deep linking, or in-line linking); or take any action with respect to the Services that is inconsistent with these Terms. We may disable any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our sole discretion.
10. Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability
YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT A REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS OR CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT OUR SERVERS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS THROUGH USE OR DOWNLOADING MATERIAL FROM THE SERVICES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT OR INDIRECT, ACTUAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT MAY ARISE FROM THE SERVICES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN DAMAGES, AND IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
BY ACCESSING THE SERVICES, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU MAY BE WAIVING RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO CLAIMS THAT ARE AT THIS TIME UNKNOWN OR UNSUSPECTED, AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH SUCH WAIVER, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND, AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY WAIVE, THE BENEFITS OF ANY LAW WHICH PROVIDES THAT A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS OR HER FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM OR HER MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS OR HER SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR.
The provisions in these Terms are intended to be only as broad and inclusive as is permitted by the laws of your state of residence. We reserve all rights, defenses, and permissible limitations under the law of your state of residence.
11. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless from and against any and all loss, expenses, damages, and costs, including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting, whether directly or indirectly, from your violation of these Terms, and any and all claims brought by third parties arising out of: your use of the Services; your Content; or any other posting, a link, reference to other content, or otherwise associated with your account.
12. Governing Law; Arbitration and Class Action Waiver
The laws of the state where the Affiliate’s principal place of business is located, excluding its conflicts-of-law rules, shall govern these Terms and the Services. EXCLUDING DISPUTES ADDRESSED THROUGH ARBITRATION AS PROVIDED BELOW, YOU AGREE TO SUBMIT TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF THE COMPETENT STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS WITH JURISDICTION FOR THE AFFILIATE’S PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS, IN RELATION TO ANY CLAIM, DISPUTE, OR DIFFERENCE ARISING FROM THESE TERMS, AND YOU AGREE TO WAIVE ANY RIGHT OF REMOVAL OR TRANSFER WHETHER DUE TO FORUM NON-CONVENIENS OR OTHER REASON. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the Uniform Computer Transaction Act (UCITA) are expressly excluded from these Terms.
We are reachable via the contact information at the end of these Terms to address any concerns you may have regarding your use of the Services. The parties shall use their best efforts to settle any dispute, claim, question, or disagreement directly through consultation and good faith negotiations, which shall be a precondition to your initiating a lawsuit or arbitration against us. Any matter or dispute relating in any way to your use of the Services or these Terms, which is not so resolved, shall be submitted to binding confidential arbitration as provided below.
Excluding claims by us for injunctive or other non-monetary relief, any claims related to the Services and any dispute or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, including without limitation, any and all disputes, claims (whether in tort, contract, statutory or otherwise) or disagreements concerning the existence, breach, interpretation, application or termination of these Terms, shall be resolved by final and binding arbitration in accordance with the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures then in effect. The decision of the arbitrator will be final and binding on the parties. Judgment on any award(s) rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Nothing in this section shall prevent either party from seeking immediate injunctive relief from any court of competent jurisdiction, and any such request shall not be deemed incompatible with the agreement to arbitrate or a waiver of the right to arbitrate. The parties undertake to keep confidential all awards in their arbitration, together with all confidential information, all materials in the proceedings created for the purpose of the arbitration and all other documents produced by the other party in the proceedings and not otherwise in the public domain, except to the extent that disclosure may be legally required of a party, necessary to protect or pursue a legal right, or to enforce or challenge an award in legal proceedings before a court or other judicial authority.
The arbitration shall take place in location agreed-upon by the parties or online, by telephone, or via written submissions alone, and be administered by JAMS; provided, however, that in the event that five (5) or more individuals seek to initiate (or do initiate) arbitration proceedings against us in a coordinated or related manner (e.g., coordination among plaintiffs or their counsel in regard to similar claims), then instead of such arbitrations being administered by JAMS, we may elect in our sole discretion to consolidate such arbitrations before an arbitrator mutually agreed-upon by the parties (and terminate any pending administration by JAMS), with such arbitrator being a retired federal or state judge and experienced with the subject matter of the arbitration.
YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL IN ANY JUDICIAL PROCEEDING. IN ADDITION, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW AND EXCEPT FOR CONSOLIDATED ARBITRATION AS PROVIDED ABOVE, YOU AGREE THAT EACH PARTY TO A DISPUTE HEREUNDER MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. Unless both you and we agree (and for consolidated arbitration as provided above), no arbitrator or judge may consolidate more than one person’s claims or otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding.
13. Entire Agreement; Severability
You acknowledge that you have read and understood and agree to be bound by these Terms. You further agree that these Terms, together with our posted Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference, constitute the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between you and us and supersedes all other proposals or prior agreements, oral or written, and any other communications relating to the subject matter of these Terms. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of these Terms, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms, and the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed superseded by a valid, enforceable provision that most closely matches the intent of the original provision and the remainder of the agreement shall continue in effect. You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and us as a result of these Terms or your use of the Services.
14. Contacting Us
You can reach us by using the Contact Us form available on our website.