Professional Misconduct

• Author: Marilyn J. Samuels/Elayne M. Tanner
• Pages: 65-72

Chapter

8

Professional

Misconduct

A. Introduction

The

degree

to

which

the

public

can

trust

a

profession

is

ultimately determined

by

its

members' collective commitment

to

integrity.

A

code

of

ethical stan-

dards professionalizes

an

occupation

by

creating

an

implied social contract

with

the

public that purports

to

balance professional privilege with responsi-

bility

and a

commitment

to

consumer

welfare.1

Integrity

is

considered

a

fundamental requirement

for a

member

of any

pro-

fession.

If a

member

is

dishonest

in his or her

dealings with clients,

the

Col-

lege

or

third parties,

all of

whom have placed their trust

and

reliance

on the

social

worker, then

it

cannot

be

said that

the

social worker

has the

requisite

integrity

to be a

member

of the

profession.

B.

Ontario Regulation

384/00

The

Social

Work

and

Social Service

Work

Act, 1998 provides that

the

Disci-

pline Committee

may find a

member

of the

College guilty

of

professional

misconduct

if,

after

a

hearing,

the

Committee

believes

that

the

member

has

engaged

in

conduct that

"is

defined

as

being professional misconduct

in the

regulations."2

The

applicable regulation, Ontario Regulation

384/00,

is

reprinted

in its

entirety

as

Appendix

HI.

Passed

by the

College,

it

divides acts

of

professional misconduct into

five

broad categories, each

of

which

is

given

its

own

section

of the

regulation. These

are the

categories:

1.

G.P. Koocher

& P.

Keith-Spiegel, Ethics

in

Psychotherapy,

Professional

Standards

&

Cases

(New York,

NY:

Oxford University Press) 1998

at 27.

2.

Social

Work

and

Social Service

Work

Act,

1998

[SWSSWAct],

S.O. 1998,

c. 31, s.

26(2).

65