How Will a Professional Disciplinary Action Impact Your Employment?

As a licensed professional, facing professional disciplinary action can have serious implications for your employment. Regardless of whether your license is in jeopardy, your employer may decide that it needs to take action in order to protect itself, its public reputation, and its relationships with its clients or patients. With this in mind, a cautious and informed approach is necessary, and you should discuss your situation with an experienced Maryland employment attorney promptly.

Facing Job-Related Consequences Due to Professional Disciplinary Action

Maryland is an at-will employment state. As the Maryland Department of Labor explains, “[t]his means in the absence of an express contract, agreement or policy to the contrary, an employee may be hired or fired for almost any reason–whether fair or not–or for no reason at all.”

As a result, if your employer has reason to believe that your professional disciplinary action reflects negatively on your ability to perform your job—or if it has reason to believe that continuing to employ you would reflect negatively on the company or practice—it will be well within its rights to terminate your employment in most cases (unless you happen to have a contract that says otherwise). The one major exception is that an employer cannot use an employee’s professional disciplinary action as a pretext for a discriminatory or retaliatory firing.

With that said, facing professional disciplinary action does not necessarily mean that you will lose your job. To maximize your chances of protecting your job, you will want to consult with an experienced Maryland employment attorney as soon as possible. Some of the ways an experienced attorney may be able to help in this scenario include:

• Representing You During Your Licensing Board’s Investigation – If your licensing board’s investigation is still ongoing (or if you have concerns about facing an investigation related to allegations of misconduct or malpractice), your attorney can represent you during the investigative process. Your attorney can help ensure that all relevant evidence receives due consideration, and, depending on the circumstances, your attorney may be able to help steer the investigation toward a resolution that avoids formal disciplinary action.
• Defending You During Your Professional Disciplinary Proceeding – If it isn’t possible to resolve the matter at the investigative stage, your attorney can defend you during your professional disciplinary proceeding. Regardless of the allegations against you, you have the right to defend yourself, and, at the very least, raising questions about the reliability or sufficiency of the evidence against you could help minimize the adverse consequences of the proceeding.
• Communicating with Your Employer (or Assisting with Your Communications) – Along with representing you in matters involving your licensing board, your attorney can also represent you in communications with your employer. Alternatively, your attorney can advise you on how to communicate with your employer directly. Effective communications can often help assuage employers’ concerns, and it may be possible to work out a mutually agreeable resolution that ultimately protects your employment.

In many cases, employers are quick to act when their employees face allegations of misconduct or malpractice. While this may be warranted in some circumstances, as an employee, you do not deserve to lose your job based on unwarranted or exaggerated allegations of wrongdoing. Oftentimes, convincing an employer to let the disciplinary process run its course before making any final decisions can be a critical step. While employers don’t want to harm their public reputations, they usually don’t want to prematurely fire their employees and harm internal morale, either.

Additionally, when you are facing professional disciplinary action as an employee, there are several intermediate steps between maintaining business as usual and terminating your employment. Working with your employer to implement these intermediate steps, as warranted, can also be an effective strategy in some cases. Ultimately, deciding how best to handle your situation requires a careful assessment of the specific facts and circumstances at hand, and an experienced Maryland employment attorney will be able to provide critical insights that you can use to make informed and strategic decisions.

Speak with a Maryland Employment Attorney at the Law Firm of J.W. Stafford

If you are facing professional disciplinary action as an employee, a Maryland employment attorney at our firm can help you make informed and strategic decisions while representing you every step of the way. To speak with one of our experienced attorneys in confidence as soon as possible, please call 410-514-6099 or tell us how we can reach you online today.