Disciplinary Proceedings

• Author: Marilyn J. Samuels/Elayne M. Tanner
• Pages: 40-49

Chapter

5

Disciplinary

Proceedings

One of the

most important functions

of a

self-governing profession

is the

dis-

ciplining

of its

members

for

professional misconduct

or

incompetence. Alle-

gations

of

misconduct

or

incompetence against Ontario social workers

are

heard

by the

College's Discipline Committee.

The

College's

complaints

and

disciplinary procedures must comply with

the

procedural provisions

set out

in the

Social

Work

and

Social Service

Work

Act,

1998.l

As we saw in

chap-

ter

2,

either

the

Executive Committee pursuant

to

their authority

found

in

section 25(1)

of the Act or the

Complaints Committee acting through

the

Executive

Committee

can

refer

a

matter

to the

Discipline Committee.

The

Executive

Committee

has the

authority

to

refer

any

matter involving allega-

tions

of

misconduct

or

incompetence

that

comes

to its

attention,

whether

there

has

been

a

formal complaint

or

not.

The

Complaints Committee

can

only

refer complaints that have been formally lodged

and

only

after

the

com-

plaints

provisions

of the Act

have been complied with.

A.

Notice

of

Hearing

Once

a

complaint

is

referred

to the

Discipline Committee

a

notice

of

hearing

containing specific allegations

of the

misconduct

or

incompetence

is

pre-

pared. This notice

of

hearing

is the

formal beginning

of the

disciplinary

process. Specificity

is

important

for two

reasons. One,

it

enables

the

member

to

know exactly what case

he or she has to

meet,

and

two,

it

confines

the

Dis-

cipline Committee

to

proceeding only

on a

clearly defined

set of

allegations.

A

notice

of

hearing that does

not

contain specific allegations

may be

sub-

ject

to a

court challenge that results

in a

disciplinary decision being over-

1.

Social

Work

and

Social Service

Work

Act, 1998

[SWSSW

Act], S.O. 1998,

c. 31.

40