Misconduct is a violation of workplace policies, applicable law, or societal norms. These include dishonesty (e.g. falsification of records), tardiness, absenteeism, sexual misconduct, and other activities that are covered in various UW Health Policies:
- Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct
- Policy 9.55 – Employee Expectations, Disciplinary Action, and Appeal
- Policy 9.27 – Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination
- Policy 4.47 – Caregiver Misconduct Investigations and Reporting
As with academic deficiencies, relatively minor concerns about a fellow’s conduct will be first addressed in a structured feedback session including the fellow, the program manager or designee, and possibly including one of the fellow’s mentors. Such feedback will often include a letter of expectation (LOE) documenting the concerns and the required remediation, but is not considered to be disciplinary under this policy. Therefore, structured feedback and LOEs are generally not reported to outside agencies, except when the agency requests, and the applicant (the former fellow) authorizes, release of the entire training file.
Rarely, a fellow’s misconduct will require disciplinary action, which is reportable to outside agencies. Formal discipline may include a letter of warning, a final warning, suspension, or dismissal from the program. Fellows may request third party review of such decisions.
