Scenario 1

You are working as a manager at a service that supports people with disabilities to find work. There
has been a recent influx of clients looking for meaningful employment and your service has recently
hired two new support workers to assist.

Shelley, one of the new disability support workers was on the phone talking to a prospective
employer for Mila, one of the centre's clients. Mila is 57 years old and suffering from anxiety and
depression as a consequence of family violence.

You overheard Shelley telling the employment provider about how Mila was almost beaten to death
by her husband a year ago.

AdmiralSummer3620 Answered 4 hours ago

Identify the legal or ethical responsibility that has been breached.

The ethical and legal responsibilities that have been breached include:

Confidentiality: Shelly exposes a Mila's private information to the employer who may not hire her
after that Conflicts of interest: Shelly has a conflict of interest between serving the client (Mila) and
her employer.

Identify the organizational policy, procedure, codes of practice that are relevant to this situation
and may inform you on how to respond to this situation.

A policy is a set of general guidelines that outline the organization's plan for tackling an issue.
Policies communicate the connection between the organization's vision and values and its day-to-
day operations.

A procedure explains a specific action plan for carrying out a policy. Procedures tells employees how
to deal with a situation and when.

A code of conduct defines how a company's employees should act on a day-to-day basis. It reflects
the organization's daily operations, core values and overall company culture. As a result, every code
of conduct is unique to the organization it represents.

In this case code of practice breached could be employee conduct. In social work, whatever
information a client shares with you as a helper should be confidential but Shelley does not seem to
adhere to any of that and exposes Mia.

Identify and explain strategies and actions that have to be undertaken to respond to the issue,
including investigations, written and verbal communications, possible sanctions that may involve
workers and service users.

Since we do not know if this is a minor or a gross misconduct in a company (not mentioned). This
kind of employee misconduct is either a minor or a gross misconduct.
If it is a minor misconduct the process typically involves:

The issue being brought to the attention of the manager or human resources

Both parties carrying out a fact-finding investigation to collect hard evidence of misconduct

Based on those findings, both parties can decide if a formal disciplinary meeting is needed

If it's not, then an informal talk with the employee can take place

It it is, then a formal warning may be issued either via written document or verbally

This warning should remain on the employee's file for about six months, and include a clear
stipulation of what should be improved and by when

In most cases, the outcome of dealing with minor misconduct will be that the employee is made
aware of the issue and is provided coaching on how to improve their behaviour. All parties can then
revisit the issue after a while to see if it has been solved.

If it is a gross misconduct, the process typically involves:

The same reporting and fact-finding process as above, but with the option to immediately suspend
the employee if they are considered to be a risk to the business, employees, or integrity of
misconduct investigation

A formal disciplinary hearing that presents the findings of the investigation to the employee, and
gives them a chance to respond

Potentially severe sanctions that can be applied to the employee, if the gross misconduct is proven,
including a final written warning, demotion, or termination

If the company decides upon termination as the only course of action, you should ensure that the
decision constitutes "fair termination" under your local employee laws.

Identify opportunities for change or continuous improvement and how these can be implemented.

Too often discipline is handed out without finding out more about why the conduct occurred. Ask
the employee why he or she is not taking the job, the discipline, or continued employment seriously.

For example, let's say you have an employee who is consistently late and receives a verbal and then
a written warning. The conduct doesn't change, and you are about to suspend the person. However,
you have never asked the employee what was going on. If you asked, perhaps you would learn that
the employee has an ongoing or intermittent family or medical issue that is causing him or her to be
late. Punishing someone in that situation is typically not going to improve the conduct. In fact, the
time off may be more valuable to the employee than the compensation, and the employee may have
legitimate legal rights to take the time off or use intermittent leave.

Find mitigating reasons as to why this misconduct happened and clearly communicate the severity of
the situation to the employee This is not the time to be vague or assume the employee already
understands the consequences of his or her conduct. Be direct, and if termination is an option, say
"You will be terminated if you violate the policy or continue with the inappropriate conduct." If you
are direct and clear about the consequences, and the employee still takes that casual attitude
toward a suspension, it may be best to terminate the person.

Identify ways in which the strategies and actions implemented will be monitored and evaluated.

Use employee monitoring software that tracks staff's activity on their work computers and track
telephone conversations

Use task and project management software to help employees stay on track

Monitor only a few employees at a time with selective control

Incorporate daily/weekly planning sessions to help managers communicate expectations

Encourage participation in a "photo of the workday" exercise

Explanation:

https://i-sight.com/resources/policies-and-procedures-in-the-workplace-the-ultimate-guide/

https://work.chron.com/legal-ethical-issues-facing-social-workers-21676.html

https://blog.recruitee.com/misconduct-in-the-workplace/

Scenario 2

A local community club wants to take a group of clients from Fairfield Community Centre out for a
picnic. They have asked John, one of the new care workers, to give them a list of people that they
can contact and invite for this activity.

After the last picnic hosted by this community club, family members complained about the way the
clients were treated - they were on the sun most of the day and there wasn't enough food and
drinks provided.

Fairfield Community Centre relies on the financial support of the club despite having some concerns
about the way their clients are treated by club members. John thinks the picnic is a great idea,
especially if some of the more difficult clients can go as it well give him and the other workers a bit
of a break for the day.

John gives the list of client names to the community club with details of their special needs. John
does not inform the clients about the activity because he knows that many of them will not want to
go.

Angela, one of the clients, found out and tells John that she does not want to attend. John informs
Angela that she has to go and that the fresh air will do her good. Angela was quite upset and tells her
daughter about the incident. Her daughter then requested for a meeting with you as the Centre
Manager and complained about why her mother was being pressured to attend the picnic.

SirLowie Answered 16 hours ago

Identify the legal or ethical responsibility that has been breached.

a. The clients were physically neglected by the club, by letting them out in the sun mostly and not
having enough food for them.

b. John giving the information of the clients to the club and their special needs, I believe that they
breach the confidentiality of the client.

c. The client was not inform to the picnic and others was forced to go even if they don't want to.

Identify the organisational policy, procedure, codes of practice that are relevant to this situation
and may inform you on how to respond to this situation.

a. Confidentiality Agreement - sharing the information of the clients was a no for me since it should
be confidential unless the client was inform about it. The Community Centre should have reviewed
their Confidentiality Agreement on how and when they can share their clients information to others

b. Consent - consent is very much important to this scenario since the client was not being inform
about the picnic. They should have ask for consent if the clients wants to go or not.

c. Right to Choose - forcing them to go is kinda bad. Everyone have the right to choose and the
Centre should have let the client decide whether they want to go or not, not force them.

Identify and explain strategies and actions that have to be undertaken to respond to the issue,
including investigations, written and verbal communications, possible sanctions that may involve
workers and service users.

a. Conduct a meeting for the client and inform them about the picnic that was about to happen.

b. The clients should have sign a confidentiality agreement and was informed that their information
was being shared to the club.

c. Making a consent form is also necessary so the client can have the chance to choose if they want
to go or not.

d. A formal document should have been presented to the Centre about the said picnic.

Identify opportunities for change or continuous improvement and how these can be implemented.

- Conducting meetings should have been done regularly to talk about any latest update about any
information that have been received. It can be implemented once a week and emergency meeting
when needed.

- Clients Well Being Meter, a well-being meter will identify the clients situation and current
emotions. So they will know if someone has something to say or if they have a problem. There
should be one person, a human development counselor to talk to them.

Identify ways in which the strategies and actions implemented will be monitored and evaluated.

- Meetings will be monitor and evaluated base on the attendance of the clients and staff of the
centre. The discussion will be evaluated by reading the minutes of the previous meetings.
- The human development counselor will organize the well being meter and monitor any progress or
changes.

Explanation:

The scenario shows how some policy and organization rules is not being followed. Some of them
need a lot of work to organized their regulations and policy to better create a healthy relationship
with their clients and also be mindful that setting rules and regulations should not only be written
but also followed.

The answer to this questions are similar to my experience in working with a club before, that is why
consent and confidentiality for me was very important because the client should be protected in all
means.

Scenario 3

Jeremy is a community support worker supporting Sarah in an alcohol and other drugs (AOD)
program. He receives a phone call from Sunny, Sarah's mother, telling him there is a family event
coming up and she is trying to decide whether or not to invite Sarah. She doesn't want Sarah around
other children in the family if she is still using drugs and asks Jeremy for information. Jeremy tells her
that Sarah is still using drugs and that she should probably not be invited to the family event.

When Jeremy sees Sarah next, he sees bruises on Sarah's arms and wrists. Sarah tells him that when
her mother came to visit her, they got into a fight over Sarah's drug problem. She also tells him that
this happens all the time, so he shouldn't worry about it. Jeremy is unsure of whether to report it or
not, as he feels he contributed to the situation by telling Sunny that Sarah was still using drugs. He
decided not to report it to you, as his supervisor because he thought he will get into trouble.

The next day, Sarah's counsellor visited the Centre and asked to speak to you about his concerns
about Sarah's bruises. As you weren't aware of any incident reports about Sarah, you spoke to
Jeremy and asked if he noticed the bruises and if he knew what had happened.

Jeremy then owned up and told you about the incident with Sunny, Sarah's mother.

Identify the legal or ethical responsibility that has been breached.

- Physical Abuse to Sarah (client) it is a breach because the support let the client be involve in a
physical fight and also negligence on the part of the Support Worker

- Transparency on reporting has also been breach by the support worker when he did not tell the
truth about the client's physical condition.

- They're also responsible for the right of clients safety or client supervision when the support
worker just let the incident passes and didn't tell the truth.

Identify the organisational policy, procedure, codes of practice that are relevant to this situation
and may inform you on how to respond to this situation.

- Transparency on Clients Condition

- Honest Reporting

- The Client Right for Safety

If these things are being followed, the incident would have been handled well and they can make
certain actions towards it. The condition of the client should be reported in all honesty because it is
very vital to the development of the client.

Identify and explain strategies and actions that have to be undertaken to respond to the issue,
including investigations, written and verbal communications, possible sanctions that may involve
workers and service users.

- Written Report on Clients Condition

- Sanction for the Support Worker for Lying to his Supervisor

- The Support Worker should have communicated the situation immediately to his Supervisor

The support worker should have created a written report on why Sarah have those bruises and be
honest to tell his Supervisor about this because from this, they can do proper actions towards the
incident.

Identify opportunities for change or continuous improvement and how these can be implemented.

- Honesty Policy, there should be no tolerance to not telling the truth especially when it came to
clients because it is very vital to het recovery.

- Quality of Reporting, written report should have been made and be submitted to the Supervisor

- There should be a person monitoring Sarah when her mother visits her so the situation could be
handle when things have gone bad.

Identify ways in which the strategies and actions implemented will be monitored and evaluated.

- Report should have the approval of the supervisor and there's a condition below the report that all
the statement mention abovr the report was all true and all the details are complete.

- The person in-charge for monitoring the visiy should have a observation sheet to monitor situation.

Explanation:

In this kind of work, giving the utmost support the client needs is very important. Giving the needs
that she wants and monitoring her recovery. This incident, shows how the support worker did not
follow the rules on transparency in reporting to hi supervisor. Honesty is very important in this kind
of work. The support worker should have done better and report immediately what happen to his
client so necessary actions should have been made.

Scenario 3

As the facility manager of a residential disability care centre, you are responsible for developing,
reviewing and distributing policies and procedures relating to service delivery. You were asked by a
Board Member, to develop a social media and on-line behaviour policy procedure as there has been
an increase in incidents of staff posting photos and stories on various social media platforms, about
their involvement in the organisation's work activities involving clients.

You arranged a meeting with the other managers to ensure every area of the organisation has the
opportunity to contribute to the development of the new policy and express any concerns they have
about its effects on internal work practices. You sent an email to employee from the IT department
to let them know a new social media and online policy and procedures will need to be uploaded to
the Intranet in one weeks' time.

SirLowie Answered 11 hours ago

Legal and ethical compliance requirements

Privacy and Confidentiality of Clients, the privacy and confidentiality of the client must have been
respected since some of the pictures one are being use for entertainment purposes, and of course
we don't want that for our clients.

Impact to Clients of Posting their Pictures Online, we don't know if the client want their picture to be
uploaded online, what if it create a negative effect to them? Some of them are pretty sensitive and
these people should be respected and be taken care properly since they are the client.

Photo/Video Agreement, this is a written agreement that the client would sign up for if they're agree
or not in posting their pictures in any social media platform, in this case the staff would have inform
about the decision of the client.

Responsibilities you must consider

Being mindful on posting pictures on Social Media

Separation of Life to Work for the Staff

Explanation:

There should have been consent from the client if they pictures would be seen online, respecting
their privacy is a way of taking care of them. The Agreement for photo and video are very important
because it will give the staff a better viewpoint about the clients information and decision about
posting pictures. The staff also need to remember that their personal matte should be separated
from their work because it would be totally different.

Moreover, before creating such policies about social media online policies, these mention above
should be consider. If we want to offer the best service for our client, we should have a thorough
and in depth discussion about it.

To protect the integrity and privacy of residential disability care centre and its
residents, the major legal and ethical issues that are required to be discussed are:
-
  United Nations Development Group guidelines about data privacy ethics and
protection.
 Financial and Criminal laws related to charity, non-profit and social service
institutions.
 Moral and ethical responsibility of a human being to the vulnerable sections of
society.
 Employee and employer laws regarding data sharing.

Explanation:
Question 2
 
Policy and procedure
This policy and procedure are concerning social media and online behavior of
employees and other members associated with residential disability care centre. The
new regulations in this policy are related to social media activities inside the official
premise or concerning the facility and its inmates. The new policy is aimed at
establishing a disciplinary code for all the employees of the residential disability care
center.
 
Policy Version
The policy can be updated if required in the future to meet future circumstances
whenever required. 
Policy Version 1.0
 
Drafted by
This policy is drafted by the Facility Manager of the Residential Disability Care Center 
 
Approved by Board on 9 August 2021  
 
Review Date (Within 7 days) 14 August 2021
 
Policy Statement
The policy entails all details regarding just use, legal liability, and responsibility of
employees in an official and personal capacity in social media space regarding
residential disability care center.
 
Question 3
 
The objectives of the social media use and online behavior policy are

 To ensure compliance of employees regarding sharing of sensitive information.

 To comply with national and international laws related to the privacy and
protection of members of the residential disability care center.
 To restrict misuse of personal social media by employees.
 To maintain organizational discipline and integrity in online platforms.

 
Question 4
 
Scope of the Policy
Social Media and Online Behaviour are aimed at regulating employees' activities
concerning residential disability care center in social media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter, Reddit, WhatsApp, and other similar platforms.
 
Question 5 
 
Legislations related to the policy are: - 

 W.H.O. and U.N. mandated disability-related laws.

 Data sharing and regulation laws.
 Organizational freedom and ethical business practices laws.
 Employee data transfer regulation laws.

 
 Question 6 
 
Procedures and instructions that are required to be followed by employees are

 Employees should not furnish any instruction in social media platforms regarding
residential disability care center to collect money in the name of charity activities.
 Employees are not allowed to meet the press or other online media and discuss
the information concerning the care center.
 No pictures, audio, video, and other materials of the care center should not be
circulated online.
 Employees should not engage in any online activity that maligns the reputation of
the organization.
 Employees should maintain strict confidentiality of all sensitive information
regarding the lives of the clients.
 Written permission from the management is required to publish any information
regarding the care center.

 
Question 7 
 
The authority of the policy
This new social media and online behavior policy derive its authority and rights from the
Residential Disability Care Centre establishment rules and agreements signed by the
board members of the care center. This policy has been developed after discussion with
all stakeholders related to this institution.