A professional engineer member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan, plead guilty to one count of professional misconduct before a hearing panel of the Discipline Committee on November 24, 2016.
Counsel for the Investigation Committee and for the member filed an Agreed Statement of Conduct with the panel, which was accepted as an admission of professional misconduct by the member. The joint submission contained the following admission:
- that the member submitted a paper for publication in a journal, a portion of which referenced a previously published joint paper co-authored by the complainant, but which failed to acknowledge the contribution of the complainant and constitutes professional misconduct.
The panel determined that this action by the member was in breach of section 20(2)(e) of The Regulatory Bylaws, 1997 and that this breach constituted professional misconduct as defined in section 30(c) of The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act.
Counsel for the Investigation Committee and for the member also filed a Joint Submission as to Disposition.
In arriving at its decision, the panel considered the following factors:
- there was no prior disciplinary action by the Association for similar behaviour conducted by the member;
- gravity of the conduct
- risk to public safety;
- specific deterrence of the member from engaging in further misconduct;
- general deterrence of other members of the profession from engaging in similar misconduct;
- rehabilitation of the member;
- punishment of the member; and
- denunciation by the profession of the conduct.
The Hearing Panel also considered the following mitigating circumstances:
- member’s experience;
- history of the member’s professional conduct; and
- member’s acknowledgement of responsibility.
Having taken into account all of the above, the Hearing Panel ordered as follows:
1. That the member be reprimanded for professional misconduct.
2. That the particulars of this disposition and sentence be published in The Professional Edge, without names.