Mandatory Reporting

• Author: Marilyn J. Samuels/Elayne M. Tanner
• Pages: 131-142

Chapter

13

Mandatory

Reporting

When

the

Ontario government

drafted

the

Social

Work

and

Social Service

Work

Act,

1998,1

it

gave

the

College

the

authority

to

pass by-laws governing

most aspects

of

members' conduct. There

was a

significant exception, how-

ever:

the

obligation

of

mandatory reports

to the

College concerning mem-

bers'

conduct. There

are two

aspects

to

mandatory reporting.

One

covers

employers

of

social

workers

and the

other relates directly

to the

social

worker. Conduct

by a

professional that violates

his or her

client

(or

patient)

and

as

such violates

the

Act,

is a

subject

that

in

recent years

has

received

a

great deal

of

publicity.

The

fact

that

the

government

refused

to

give

the

Col-

lege

the

authority

to

make rules concerning mandatory reporting

and

instead

set

out the

rules

in

detail

in the Act

indicates

the

seriousness with which both

the

government

and the

public view this issue.

A fine of up to

$25,000.00

is

possible

for

failure

to

make

a

mandatory report. Failure

to

report

can

also

be

considered professional misconduct.

Although

mandatory reporting

is

covered

in the Act but not in the

Col-

lege's

Standards

of

Practice

Handbook,

it is a

topic just

as

important

as any

covered

in the

Handbook,

and

social workers must make

the

effort

to

famil-

iarize themselves with their reporting obligations under

the

Act. These oblig-

ations

are

spelled

out in

sections 41-45

of the

Act, which state

as

follows:

41. (1) A

person who,

for

reasons

of

professional misconduct, incompetence

or

incapacity

of a

member

of the

College, terminates

the

employment

of the

member shall

file

with

the

Registrar within

30

days

after

the

termination,

a

written

report setting

out the

reasons.

(2)

If a

person intended

to

terminate

the

employment

of a

member

for

reasons

of

professional misconduct, incompetence

or

incapacity

but the

person

did not

do

so

because

the

member resigned,

the

person shall

file

with

the

Registrar

1.

Social

Work

and

Social Service

Work

Act, 1998

[SWSSW

Act],

S.O. 1998,

c. 31.

131