As part of its duty to protect the public from unqualified, incompetent and unfit practitioners, the College has a formal complaints process which gives the public the ability to have their complaint about a member’s alleged conduct or actions submitted to the College’s Complaints Committee. The process ensures fairness to both the individual making the complaint, called the “Complainant,” and the College member who is the subject of the complaint.
Click on the sections below for more information.
Complaints process
- A member will receive a written notification from the College if someone files a complaint against them.
- The member who was complained against will be given an opportunity to provide a written response detailing their account of the allegations in the complaint.
- The member complained against will receive relevant documents that are collected during the complaints investigation. These may include items such as charts and interview statements. This is to allow for procedural fairness, ensuring that the member complained against has all the necessary information to make a fully informed response to the allegations in the complaint.
Legal services
- The College strongly recommends that members retain the services of a lawyer if a complaint has been filed against them.
- If the member complained against is also a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers or the Ontario Social Service Worker Association, they may want to contact them for assistance in obtaining a lawyer.
Investigation process
An “Investigator” – a College staff member – will undertake an investigation. This will include:
- gathering additional information and documentation from the Complainant, the member complained against, and any relevant witnesses and other individuals such as coworkers or managers.
- When the investigation is complete, the Investigator will present the information and documentation collected to the Complaints Committee.
Records
As part of the investigation process, the member complained against may be asked to provide records such as:
- General information and consent forms
- Service agreements
- Chart entries
- Goals or treatment goals
- Financial information
- Communications such as emails or telephone notes
It is professional misconduct for a member to fail to co-operate in a College investigation.[1]
The role of the Investigator
An Investigator is assigned to each complaint.
The Investigator:
- Is a neutral fact finder, and may speak with the Complainant, the member complained against, and any relevant witnesses and individuals.
- Gathers information on behalf of the Complaints Committee, and writes a report submitted for their review.
- Does not have any decision-making ability – their only role is to gather information.
[1] Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998 ). Reg. 384/00 s. 2.33.
Consent and confidentiality
Consent
The member complained against may need to share confidential client information to respond to a complaint.
- As set out in Principle V, Interpretation 5.2.5 of the Standards of Practice, members are allowed to share confidential client information with the College to defend themselves against a complaint.
- Members should not divulge more information than is reasonably required.
- Members do not need consent from the client to provide records to the College when requested for a complaints investigation.
- The Complainant’s consent may be required to obtain third party records such as from a hospital, children’s aid society or police.
Confidentiality
- The details and information gathered during a complaints investigation are confidential to the complaints process with a few exceptions.
- Relevant information or documents shared by either the Complainant or the member being complained against may be shared with the other party if needed.
- The College may have to share documents with relevant witnesses or individuals during the investigation so that it can get a statement or documentation from them.
- Neither the member being complained against nor the Complainant can use information received during the investigation for any other purposes – for example, information obtained during the complaints process is not admissible in any civil court proceeding.
As required by law, if a matter is ultimately referred to the Discipline or Fitness to Practise Committee for a hearing, information from the investigation will be disclosed to the Committees hearing the matter and in the case of Discipline, certain information is also required to be made available to the public on the College’s website and public register.
The Complaints Committee
Once the investigation is complete, it is reviewed by the Complaints Committee, who will decide on an appropriate course of action. They will also issue a written decision with reasons for the action put forward. Possible outcomes of a complaint may include:
- Taking no action with respect to the complaint.
- Providing advice to the member with the goal of remediating their practice going forward (such as completing a professional development course).
- Requiring the member to appear before a panel of the Complaints Committee to be cautioned.
- Referring the matter to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee for a hearing.
The Complaints Committee has no ability to direct the member complained against to pay money or issue a refund to a Complainant.
The written decision issued by the Complaints Committee is provided to both the member complained against and the Complainant. The College does not publish written decisions of the Complaints Committee.
Appeals
There is no appeal process for complaints.
Timelines
The College makes best efforts to complete investigations in a timely manner. Generally, the process can take from six months to a year to get before the Complaints Committee for review. The Complaints Committee meets on a regular basis to consider investigations. However, there are several factors that may impact the time it takes for the College to complete an investigation – for example, a delay in receiving documents from third parties or the volume of complaints received at any given time by the College.
The difference between a complaint and a report
While the investigation process for complaints and reports is similar, there are some differences.
A complaint is submitted by a person (“the Complainant”), who is usually the recipient of services. Both the Complainant and the member complained against are parties to the complaint, which means that they will both receive the written decision of the Complaints Committee.
A report is submitted by a person or organization, and concerns information about a member that the person/organization wants/ or is required to bring to the College’s attention. For example, employers are required to report the termination of a social worker or social service worker’s employment for reasons of professional misconduct, incompetence or incapacity.
The person/organization that files a report is not a party to the investigation. They may be contacted to provide additional information, however, they are not provided with updates or a copy of the decision.
Once the investigation of the report is complete, it is reviewed by the Executive Committee who will decide on an appropriate course of action. They will also issue a written decision with reasons for the action as required by the College’s governing legislation. The written decision is shared with the member who was reported, but not with the person/organization who filed the report. The written decision of the Executive Committee is not published. Possible outcomes of a report may include:
- Taking no action with respect to the report.
- Providing advice to the member with the goal of remediating their practice going forward (such as completing a professional development course).
- Referring the matter to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee for a hearing.
- Imposing an interim order to suspend a member’s certificate of registration or impose certain conditions on a member’s certificate of registration pending a hearing before the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee.