Advise other boards??? 6

[Pmtottawa]

Long story short, high maintenence client made a complaint against me with a board of engineers.

Being that I seldom do work there, I got a lawyer and we agreed best course of action was to simply retire from practicing in that jurisdiction as i seldom get projects there which outweighed the cost of maintining the license. No restrictions imposed on my practise, nor suspendions etc on the final order. Lawyer says not to advise boards as that based on the final consent order, the other boards won't care.
Question I have is do I need to advise my other engineering boards of this or not.

I feel the least I can do is contact them for info. But don't want to open a can of worms if I don't need to.

Thoughts....

 

[phamENG]

Depends on the rules in the other jurisdictions. Most of the jurisdictions where I'm licensed have requirements that you report any disciplinary action against you from another state. So if your discipline was retirement in lieu of fine/suspension, then I think that would qualify. Was there an investigation? Did the board side with your client? If not, then it probably didn't go far enough to be considered reportable.

Talk with your lawyer and make sure they are giving you formal legal advice (since this is a legal matter, after all). That way, if another jurisdiction finds out and and does revoke your license for a breach of ethics (which would, in turn, be reportable and you'd be strangled by your can of worms)...you can go after your lawyer for legal malpractice. Yay...

 

[Pmtottawa]

There was an investigation, and lawyer shut down every point.

He said to agree to minimalist charge and be done with it.

P

 

[phamENG]

If you admitted to any wrong doing (breach of ethics, violation of regulations, etc.), and the board issued a disciplinary action (even if it was just saying we'll leave you alone if you leave), then I would say it's likely reportable to other jurisdictions. What they usually 'care' about isn't the scope or severity of the violation, but that there was a violation. If you inform them and state your case, then they can decide if it's something worth disciplining you for at home. If you don't tell them and they find out, and they decide you've violated a regulation by not reporting it, then you will be disciplined at home. But I'm also in a different country, so things may be handled differently in Canada.

This is a legal issue and you should carefully consider the counsel you're getting from your lawyer.

 

[JedClampett]

It's better if you open the can of worms then if they discover it (high maintenance client, right?) on their own.

 

[HVAC-Novice]

I think you should clearly state what "minimalist charge" you plead guilty for and what their actual punishment for that is/was. Also state if this is till ongoing, or has been concluded.

I'm a bit concerned that you only start to reveal this crucial information in the 2nd post. Obviously this is the official record and important for how to proceed.

If you only got charged, but nothing was proven, it is like it never happened. People get accused all the time. But what matters is the actual judgment and specific disciplinary action. So if you admitted to something and got a punishment of some sort, this is the official version.

Unless you are not practicing there anymore is part of the punishment or plea deal, you don't need to disclose that. You may change your mind anyway, and it also depends on someone from there actually hiring you.

The more complete, concise and truthful information you provide, the better advice will be.

 

[Pmtottawa]

I accepted the fact of not keeping a scratch note Calc verifying computer output.

I will reach out to my other boards this week and see what they say...
I certainly don't want to hide anything...

Cheers

P

 

[IRstuff]

I would think that you want to hedge and report, rather than take the chance that his client, being clearly vindictive, might go and report you to your other boards. And while the conclusion of that might eventually be moot; it's at best a nuisance and at worst, might turn into a big issue. Just depends on how much money the client has and how vindictive he is.

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[Pmtottawa]

IR

Totally agree...

Thanks... I will call the boards this week.

P

 

[skeletron]

You could also be proactive before calling the boards and watch/review regulatory material on keeping records, documented checks, etc. etc. Some sort of continuing education to say "hey, this happened, it probably shouldn't have, and i've re-educated myself on the requirements" in a pretty amicable way.

 

[MedicineEng]

I don't think that "agreeing with minimal charges and be done with" is the correct approach unless you actually did something wrong or you are close to retirement age.
I believe that this situation will nevertheless create a record which might come and bite you down the road:
1. Right now you don't have a lot of work on that jurisdiction but you might miss out a good job there in the future.
2. You might bid for a job where part of their due diligence is to answer questions like: "Did you ever had disciplinary record in this or any other jurisdiction?"

It's not completely related with this situation, but I have a friend that one time got terminated by common agreement with his boss, not because of his performance but as a way to get better severance package than if had simply resigned.
A few years later he applied for another position for which he was a good fit, had already passed through a couple of interview rounds and he was on the shortlist.
On his last interview, he had to fill a questionnaire for the company to conduct their due diligence.
One of the questions that he had to answer was: "were you ever terminated from any of your past jobs?". He answered "yes" and gave details. Unfortunately, since a few years had passed since his termination, when the new company perform due diligence, his former boss meanwhile had passed away and HR could only confirm that he had been terminated but couldn't confirm the details. He didn't get the job.

 

[Pmtottawa]

Medicine.
I had that license for 1 client that does about 2 projects per year (average over the last 20 years). Conditions I agreed to were (per my lawyer) meaningless and he was an engineering lawyer in the province in question. So totally trust him.

for your information I am 4 years before retirement


I will be calling my other boards this week to speak to legal about and see what I need to do as I do know that whenever you renew your license there is always a question on disciplinary action from other provinces. From what my lawyer said, they look for actions or conditions placed on your license. I retired /resigned... so no action on limitations were placed per the final order.

Main charge I agreed to was failure to maintain documentation (scratch note for verifying computer output).

All admin stuff.

Which have all been addressed in office procedures (I am a 1 man shop by the way)

Cheers, and thanks for all the great responses.

P