Legal and ethical compliance

CHCLEG003 Manage legal and ethical compliance

This unit is about researching information on compliance and ethical practice, and then developing and monitoring policies and procedures to meet them. This unit applies to people with managerial responsibility for legal and ethical compliance in small to medium sized organizations. There might or might not be a team of workers involved.

You can you get information and advice on compliance from government departments or regulatory agencies (local, state/territory or commonwealth levels) and industry associations. Many issue plain English documentation that explains legislation.

 

How you will be assessed

You will be assessed through:

 

Practical

You will be assessed in the workplace with suitable facilities, equipment and resources, including current legislation, regulations, and workplace policies and procedures.

You need to show that you have:

  1. Determined the scope of legal and ethical compliance requirements.
  2. Determined responsibilities for legal and ethical compliance.
  3. Developed policies and procedures for at least one workplace or business.
  4. Developed a strategic response to at least three different situations where legal or ethical requirements have been breached.

 

Major assignment

If you have done other units, some of these requirements have already been assessed. You will be able to do the remainder of this assignment much more quickly by interviewing a knowledgeable person.

Some questions might not apply to your organization. For example, some services are not required to be licensed or accredited.

For each topic below, what legal and ethical factors apply to your work in the community services (consider international, national, state/territory, local laws)?

  1. children in the workplace.
  2. codes of conduct / practice, policy frameworks.
  3. complaints management.
  4. continuing professional education.
  5. discrimination.
  6. dignity of risk.
  7. work health and safety, duty of care.
  8. informed consent.
  9. mandatory reporting.
  10. practice standards.
  11. primary client.
  12. practitioner/client boundaries.
  13. privacy, confidentiality and disclosure.
  14. records management.
  15. rights and responsibilities of workers, employers and clients; work role boundaries – responsibilities and limitations of different people.
  16. industrial relations legislation and requirements relevant to your organization.
  17. Human rights:
    1. Universal declaration of human rights.
    2. Other frameworks, approaches and instruments for human rights used in your workplace.
  18. Specific requirements in the area of work, including:
    1. key practices that are prohibited by law.
    2. auditing and inspection regimes.
    3. main consequences of non-compliance.
    4. licensing or accreditation requirements.
    5. mandatory training and certification.
    6. statutory reporting requirements.
    7. business insurances required (e.g. public liability and workers’ compensation).
    8. requirements to develop and implement plans, policies, codes of conduct or incorporate certain workplace practices.

For each of those topics:

  1. How are they are applied in your organization?
  2. How do they impact individual workers?
  3. What are the consequences of breaches?

 

Interview/assignment questions

  1. What are the legal responsibilities and liabilities of managers and others in:
    1. Incorporated associations?
    2. Companies?
    3. Sole trader organizations?
    4. Multi-site organizations?
  2. What responsibilities do managers have to develop and monitor of policies and procedures?
  3. What is the relationship between human needs and human rights?
  4. Where can you get information and advice on compliance?
  5. Regulatory authorities:
    1. What regulatory authorities oversee your organization’s community service activities?
    2. What is their purpose and function?
    3. What are their operating procedures for regulating community service activites? (E.g. complaints, audits, consultation.)
  6. How can you get updated information on requirements?
  7. Explain the formats for policies and procedures. What should they include?
  8. How can you use policies and procedures to manage compliance and ethical practice:
    1. internal work practices?
    2. external service delivery?
  9. Explain your organization’s system for monitoring compliance.

Note: Your assessor may also ask you a variety of what if questions.

 

Detailed requirements

1. Research information required for legal compliance

  1. Identify sources of information about compliance requirements.
  2. Evaluate own area of work and determine scope of compliance requirements.
  3. Access and interpret information relevant to area of work.
  4. Identify risks, penalties and consequences of non-compliance.
  5. Assess and act on need for specialist legal advice.

 

2. Determine ethical responsibilities

  1. Identify the ethical framework that applies to your work context.
  2. Incorporate scope of practice considerations as part of ethical practice.
  3. Evaluate your responsibilities to staff, clients, and the broader community.
  4. Be a example of ethical behavior in your own work.

 

3. Write policies and procedures to support legal and ethical practice and communicate them.

  1. Your policies and procedures need to be clear and in a readily accessible format.
  2. Include documentation and record keeping requirements.
  3. Make sure that systems protect client information.
  4. If multiple people are involved, nominate people for different roles and responsibilities.
  5. Distribute policies, procedures and legal information to colleagues and peers in a timely way.

 

4. Monitor compliance

  1. Keep work practices under evaluation for compliance. Identify non-compliances, and make changes.
  2. Maintain and update required accreditations or certifications.
  3. Refer issues or breaches of ethical or legal practice to relevant people (e.g. supervisor).

 

5. Keep your knowledge of compliance requirements up to date.

  1. Identify and use opportunities to keep up to date on current and emerging legal requirements and ethical issues.
  2. Identify opportunities to keep up to date on current and emerging legal requirements and ethical issues, and take them.
  3. Share updated information with your peers and colleagues.
  4. Pro-actively engage in reviewing and improving compliance.

 

6. Other.

  1. Manage tasks and contingencies on the job.
  2. Follow Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards, and industry codes of practice.