As a licensed professional, you are subject to various rules and laws that govern your occupation or profession. You may face disciplinary action before your professional licensing board or agency if you violate any of those rules or laws. If that agency finds that you have violated a rule or law, you can face potential severe sanctions that may permanently impact your license and career. Therefore, you need strong legal representation during these proceedings to protect your livelihood and professional future. A professional license defense lawyer can represent you before your licensing board in disciplinary proceedings and help avoid or mitigate the potential sanctions you may face.
Take Your Licensing Board Complaint Seriously
Even if you believe that a complaint or allegations against you are completely without merit, you still must take a licensing board complaint seriously. No matter if you think your licensing board ultimately will dismiss the complaint, you nonetheless have a duty to respond, and to do so in a timely fashion.
Failing to respond to a complaint before the deadline that your licensing board has set is essentially the same as not responding at all. In a licensing board investigation, no matter its merits, your professional credibility, reputation, and career are at stake. Therefore, the lack of a response will only prejudice you, cause irreparable harm, and make your situation suddenly become much worse. No licensing board has dismissed a complaint simply because the license holder chose to ignore it.
Furthermore, many licensing boards consider the failure to respond, or the failure to timely respond to a complaint, as a separate rules violation that carries the potential for further sanctions. As a result, even if you do not end up facing sanctions for the allegations in the complaint, you might still face sanctions simply for failing to respond to the complaint.
Texas Medical Board
For instance, under 22 Tex. Admin. Code §179.4(a), the Texas Medical Board (TMB) may request a licensee to produce medical records related to a disciplinary investigation or proceeding. Under these circumstances, the licensee must produce these records within a reasonable time, which is defined as no more than fourteen calendar days. However, a reasonable time may be a shorter time if the urgency of the situation requires it or there is a possibility that the records may be lost, destroyed, or damaged. Similarly, 22 Tex. Admin. Code §179.4(e) states that a license holder must respond in writing to all written requests for information within ten days of the date of the request. Failure to timely respond to either of these requests can result in further disciplinary action, in addition to the disciplinary action that the license holder already is facing.
Texas Real Estate Commission
Under Tex. Occ. Code §1101.652(a-1)(2), the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) can take disciplinary action against a license holder who “fails or refuses to produce on request, within a reasonable time, for inspection by the commission or a commission representative, a document, book, or record that is in the license holder’s possession and relates to a real estate transaction conducted by the license holder.” Similarly, under Tex. Occ. Code §1101.652(a)(4), TREC may suspend or revoke a license if the license holder “fails to provide, within a reasonable time, information requested by the commission that relates to a formal or informal complaint to the commission that would indicate a violation of this chapter or Chapter 1102.” The failure of license holders to respond in either of these situations is an independent source of discipline for license holders.
Address All Aspects of Your Complaint
Not only must you respond to the complaint, but you must thoroughly respond to every allegation contained within the complaint. You should not skip, ignore, or leave any allegation unaddressed. Complete a response to each allegation completely and directly, even if you feel that you have adequately addressed the allegation in a previous section of your response.
Likewise, do not fail to respond to an allegation, even if you find it ridiculous or so blatantly without merit that it is difficult to respond. Failing to address any allegation, no matter how ludicrous, can lead to disaster, so it is your responsibility to fully respond to the Board, and respond in a timely manner. Your license defense attorney can assist you in drafting a complete and thorough response to each allegation against you.
Avoid a Default Order
Many licensing boards have the authority to enter an adverse finding against you by default if you fail to respond to a disciplinary complaint within the required timeframe. The licensing board also can go ahead and impose whatever sanctions they are recommending, based on the violations of rules or laws of which you are accused. In many instances, the board will issue a default order without holding a hearing or asking for any further input or response from you.
Therefore, even if you did absolutely nothing wrong, you still could end up with a disciplinary finding and sanction if you ignore the complaint. As a result, ignoring a complaint is never a good move.
Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation
For instance, the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation (TDLR) licenses and regulates various occupations in the state. If the TDLR issues a Notice of Alleged Violation (NOAV) to a licensee following an investigation, a licensee must respond within 20 days. Under Tex. Occ. Code §51.304, if the licensee fails to respond within 20 days, by either accepting the TDLR’s recommendations and proposed penalties or requesting a hearing, the TDLR can and will enter a default order against the licensee with no further proceedings.
Texas Board of Nursing
The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) handles disciplinary complaints against nurses. Although the BON does not immediately enter a default order if a nurse does not respond to a disciplinary complaint, it eventually will issue a default order in some circumstances. For instance, if the BON is unable to reach a nurse during the informal settlement process, it will automatically file formal disciplinary charges against the nurse. At that point, the nurse must respond in writing to the formal disciplinary charges within 20 days. If the nurse fails to timely respond, the BON may proceed to revocation of the license holder’s nursing license by default.
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We Will Represent Your Interests Before Your Licensing Board
We know how important it is for you to maintain your professional license and your ability to continue your career. We aim to help you handle any disciplinary proceedings and minimize or avoid any resulting sanctions. The experienced professional license defense lawyers at Bertolino LLP, will advocate on your behalf to protect your license during your disciplinary proceedings. Call us at (512) 515-9518 or contact us online.
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