Alberta Paramedics: Navigate ACoP Complaints with Skilled Legal Representation

A complaint filed with the Alberta College of Paramedics (“ACoP” or the “College”) can put a paramedic’s career and reputation at serious risk. If you are under ACoP’s disciplinary scrutiny, it is crucial that you are informed about the potential consequences and disciplinary procedures. It is also vital that you understand the intricacies involved in defending against a regulatory action and safeguarding your right to fairness.

This article provides some essential information about ACoP regulatory action. However, it is not a substitute for tailored legal advice and representation. Skilled legal representation often plays a crucial role in navigating the procedural complexities and legal challenges of disciplinary actions.

Taylor Janis Workplace Law offers legal services to all professionals facing regulatory challenges across Alberta. Our experienced lawyers, such as Cyril Kaderabek, a former paramedic himself, can provide you with the practical legal advice and skilled representation tailored to your needs.

Please contact our Edmonton of Calgary office today to schedule a consultation.

The Regulatory Role and Powers of ACoP

ACoP Is a Statutory Regulatory College

Under the Alberta Health Professions Act (the “Act”) and its accompanying Paramedics Profession Regulation, the Alberta College of Paramedics is the regulatory college for the profession of paramedicine in Alberta. Its regulated members include full and provisional emergency medical responders, emergency medical technicians, emergency medical technologist‑paramedic,  primary care paramedics, advanced care paramedics, and critical care paramedics, who have the exclusive right to use their respective restricted titles.

Under the Act, ACoP has a mandate to serve and protect the public interest. It is responsible for establishing, maintaining, and enforcing the standards of registration, practice, competence, and ethics for paramedics. One of the key ways the College upholds these standards is through its complaints and discipline process.

ACoP’s Disciplinary Measures Are Broad

The Act confers on Alberta paramedics the privilege to self-regulate. Along with this privilege, ACoP is also conferred with broad powers and discretion to make legally binding disciplinary decisions against its regulated members. Upon determining that a paramedic has committed unprofessional conduct, the ACoP Hearing Tribunal may order one or more of the following against the disciplined paramedic:

• A caution or reprimand;
• Imposition of conditions on their practice permit;
• Suspension of their practice permit temporarily or until certain conditions are satisfied;
• Requiring them to satisfy competence requirements;
  • The disciplined paramedic may be required to receive counselling or treatment programs, complete specific courses of study, or obtain supervised practical experience within a fixed period, during which their practice permit may be suspended.
• Cancellation of their registration and practice permit;
• Repayment of improper fees received from the complainant;
• Recovery of certain expenses incurred during the disciplinary process from the disciplined paramedic;
• A fine not exceeding $5,000 for each finding of unprofessional conduct and not exceeding $25,000 for the aggregation of all unprofessional conduct found at one hearing; and                          
• Any other order deemed appropriate for the protection of the public.

Notably, adverse disciplinary decisions can result in legal consequences beyond the sanctions listed above.

• As a regulatory college, ACoP has a degree of discretion to appropriately “customize” somewhat novel disciplinary measures to protect the public.
• The College can also remain “seized” with a disciplinary matter, meaning it may order further discipline, commence debt actions or apply for injunctive court orders if an initial order was not complied with.
• Where a matter raises a reasonable belief that a criminal offence has been committed, the Hearing Tribunal must forward its written decision to the Minister of Justice, thus opening up a potential for further legal liabilities.

ACoP Discipline Can Be Career-Altering

An adverse disciplinary decision by ACoP may cause not only severe financial and career detriments but also long-lasting and widespread reputational damage.

A severe disciplinary measure can put a paramedic’s professional standing and livelihood in jeopardy. Even a seemingly “lesser” disciplinary measure, such as a requirement to complete a course of study, can be highly disruptive to your professional and personal life.

Being disciplined may also result in profound reputational damage. Under the Act, ACoP may put disciplinary orders on public notice, and disciplinary decisions respecting sexual misconduct must be published on its website and normally remain indefinitely accessible. Moreover, information related to a disciplinary suspension, cancellation or condition imposed on a practice permit must be forwarded to out-of-province regulators for paramedics, thus severely affecting the disciplined paramedic’s long-term career prospects.

Assess the Risks and Prepare Accordingly

ACoP disciplinary measures have legally binding effects and can put your career, finances and reputation in serious jeopardy. Regulatory actions are intricate, and the parties’ perspectives often diverge. Even a seemingly unfounded or trivial allegation may lead to severe consequences.

Therefore, you should promptly obtain legal advice and have your lawyer assess your case if you are expecting a regulatory action.

Taylor Janis Workplace Law is committed to providing transparent legal advice and tailored legal plans. If the risk is substantial, we can represent you in regulatory proceedings. If the risk is minimal, we can give you practical legal advice and the peace of mind. If you are under the regulatory scrutiny of ACoP, contact us at our Edmonton or Calgary office today to schedule an initial consultation.

The Disciplinary Process of ACoP

The disciplinary process of ACoP involves a sequence of escalating procedures. However, even the early stages of a disciplinary process can be highly complex, consequential and disruptive to a paramedic’s professional and personal life.

It is highly advisable that you engage legal representation early so that you have the adequate support for navigating the procedural complexities and minimizing unnecessary risks.

Complaints

Any person can file a complaint with ACoP against a paramedic. The College can also initiate a disciplinary process on reasonable grounds as if a complaint has been received, if it believes that a paramedic has committed unprofessional conduct.

Moreover, under certain circumstances, a fellow paramedic or the employer of a paramedic has a positive duty to report to the College regarding their concerns about a regulated member’s unprofessional conduct.

Therefore, a complaint does not necessarily need to come from a patient, and it is not the only way to trigger a disciplinary process.

The ACoP Complaints Director may only dismiss a complaint if it is vexatious, frivolous or lacks factual merit. Otherwise, they must initiate an investigation or facilitate an investigation.

Investigations

An unresolved complaint or a complaint deemed unresolvable will result in an investigation. The investigated paramedics will normally be notified of the particulars of the allegation. During an investigation, you have an obligation to cooperate, but also a need to avoid inadvertently jeopardizing your case.

The investigatory measures available to ACoP are broad, and an investigator can do one or more of the following:

• Require the investigated paramedic to answer questions under oath;
• Require the investigated paramedic to disclose documents, information and/or evidence relevant to the investigation; and
• Enter the investigated paramedic’s premises for practice.

Under certain circumstances, ACoP may also:

• Apply for a court order to enforce its investigatory measures.
• Temporarily suspend or place conditions on the investigated paramedic’s practice permit.

Hence, an investigation can be highly intrusive and disruptive to the investigated paramedic’s professional and personal life.

When an investigation is eventually completed, unless the complaint is dismissed for being trivial, vexatious or factually meritless, the investigated matter will be referred to the ACoP Hearing Tribunal.

When under investigation, legal representation can be crucial for avoiding potential legal pitfalls while remaining cooperative. It can also be integral to preparing a robust response to the allegations, which may discourage a frivolous, vexatious or meritless matter from being processed further, reaching a favourable and expedited resolution.

Hearings by the Hearing Tribunal

Facing an ACoP Hearing Tribunal hearing can be an intensely intimidating experience because:

• A hearing is a quasi-judicial and adversarial proceeding:
  • Both parties (the Complaints Director vs. the investigated persons) have a statutory right to counsel.
  • Decisions are based on the relative strength of the parties’ factual and legal submissions.
• An investigated paramedic may be ordered to testify under oath:
  • If you testify, you may be examined (intensely scrutinized with questions) under oath.
  • Failure to cooperate may result in severe legal consequences.
• The time for preparation is limited:
  • A hearing would normally be scheduled within 90 days after a complaint has been referred to the Hearings Director.
  • The notice to attend and particulars of the matter can be given as late as 30 days before the hearing.
• A hearing may have profound reputational effects:
  • A hearing is presumed to be open to the public unless one of the limited legal exceptions requires it to be held in private in part or entirely.
  • Reputational harm may occur before a final verdict is reached, especially if the investigated paramedic is under-prepared or acts in ways prejudicial to themselves.

A hearing is also highly consequential: If a hearing determines that the investigated paramedic has committed unprofessional conduct, this determination will result in binding disciplinary orders.

Extensive preparation is often necessary for achieving a favourable outcome at a hearing, and awareness of common pitfalls is crucial for minimizing reputational damage. Our strongest recommendation is that you exercise your statutory right to counsel if you are facing an ACoP disciplinary hearing.

Appeals

If an investigated paramedic believes a hearing decision is biased or unfair, they can appeal the decision to the ACoP Council, and they can further appeal the ACoP Council’s decision to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

However, an appeal should be seen as a last resort, and the preferred approach is to engage legal representation early and strive towards a favourable outcome at the outset. This is because:

• It is a formidable task to have a decision overturned:
  • The appellate standards are high and subject to stringent legal and evidentiary thresholds. A later section of this article will discuss the appellate standards in depth.
  • Courts are required to pay deference to statutory regulators out of respect for legislative intent, following the Supreme Court of Canada decision Vavilov.
• During an Appeal, the detriments of a disciplinary order may persist:
  • An appeal does not automatically suspend the enforcement of a disciplinary order.
  • Even if an appeal is successful, the remedy might be that the matter is sent back to ACoP to be redetermined.
• An Appeal is legally intricate and technical:
  • An appeal is not a rehearing of the allegations, nor an opportunity for an appellant to reargue their case.
  • Normally, the scope of an appeal is limited to highly technical issues concerning the fairness of the original decision.

Given the challenging and intricate nature of an appeal, the value of legal representation is eminently clear if an appeal becomes necessary. However, the preferred approach to disciplinary proceedings is a proactive one: you should obtain legal representation to work towards a favourable outcome at an earlier stage.

Voluntary/ Alternative Resolutions

There are alternative ways to resolve a complaint without going through the entire hearing process.

• Before a complaint is referred to the Hearing Tribunal, the Complaints Director may refer the matter to an alternative complaint resolution process. This is a voluntary process similar to mediation, where the complainant and the investigated paramedic can reach a voluntary settlement.
• Before the Hearing Tribunal makes a factual determination regarding the alleged unprofessional conduct, the investigated paramedic may admit some or all of the allegations. If accepted, such an admission can substantially shorten the fact-finding phase of the hearing.

However, these are consequential strategic decisions, and should be approached with legal advice, because:

• A settlement agreement is normally legally enforceable.
  • You need to ensure that its terms and conditions are fair and reasonable to you, based on a comprehensive review of all relevant legal and factual factors.
• An admission of unprofessional conduct does not conclude the disciplinary process.
  • A hearing may be necessary to determine the appropriate disciplinary measures.
• There are reputational implications.
  • Decisions based on an admission are subject to the same publication and notification requirements and policies as any other disciplinary decisions.
  • Under the ACoP Bylaws, a settlement agreement ratified by the College may be put on public notice.
• An admission of unprofessional conduct largely forecloses an appeal on grounds of erroneous fact-finding.

A voluntary settlement or admission may be advantageous under the right circumstances, but it is a strategic and consequential decision. Before making such a decision, you should have your lawyer comprehensively review your case first.

Engage Legal Representation Promptly

Even the early stages of an ACoP disciplinary process can be highly complex, consequential, and disruptive to your professional and personal life. Moreover, the reputational effects often start to emerge when the process commences, even before a final verdict is reached.

Throughout all stages of a disciplinary process, you need to avoid inadvertently jeopardizing your case, and you should also avoid settling a defensible case on unreasonable terms.

When you are expecting or undergoing a disciplinary process, you should engage legal representation promptly. A lawyer can provide valueable legal support to navigate the complex procedures, make legally informed decisions and streamline the process where possible and reasonable.

The skilled lawyers at Taylor Janis Workplace Law are not only tenacious advocates but also resourceful problem solvers. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns about an upcoming or ongoing ACoP disciplinary procedure.

*The procedures cited above may vary if the alleged unprofessional conduct is related to the incapacity of the regulated member, sexual misconduct, or the procurement or performance of female genital mutilation.

Defending Against Discipline Actions: Rules, Facts and Advocacy

Mounting an effective defence is not just about telling your perspective of the underlying facts. It often requires correctly applying legal rules to facts substantiated with strong evidence, with skillful advocacy enhancing its persuasiveness. This can be especially true when the matter involves complex or contentious factual and legal issues.

Referencing and Applying Legal Authorities:

Under the Act, unprofessional conduct is disciplinable and captures a wide range of conduct:

• Displaying a lack of knowledge, skill or judgment when providing service;
• Contravention of applicable legislation, code of ethics or standards of practice;
• Practicing paramedicine without an appropriate practice permit or registration, or in ways contravening the conditions imposed on a practice permit;
• Non-compliance with an investigatory request or disciplinary decision of ACoP; and
• Conduct that harms the integrity of the profession of paramedicine.

However, the above is not a closed-ended list of all types of conduct that are disciplineable, nor does it provide a full-pictured understanding of how disciplinary decisions are made. When formulating a legal defence, it is important to know:

• There are multiple sources of legal rules specifically applicable to paramedics:
  • Any contravention of the Act, its accompanying regulations, the ACoP Bylaws, the ACoP Code of Ethics, or the ACoP Standards of Practice can be considered unprofessional conduct under the Act.
  • Legal expertise can be essential for correctly interpreting and referencing legal rules from all these sources.
• ACoP can consider other legal authorities, such as common law cases:
  • A paramedic, like everyone else, must act lawfully at all times. Correspondingly, ACoP may consider other sources of legal rules and principles when adjudicating a matter, especially when the issue is complicated or nuanced.
  • For example, in this published disciplinary decision, the ACoP Hearing Tribunal relied on common law cases in finding that wrongful off-duty conduct can constitute unprofessional conduct and determining appropriate disciplinary sanctions.

Resourcefully citing a wide range of legal authorities is often integral to an effective defence. Legal rules and principles are often highly nuanced, particularly when applied to the facts or when interacting with each other. Therefore, preparing a sound legal argument may require considerable legal acumen and extensive research.

Supporting Factual Positions with Robust Evidence

In ACoP regulatory proceedings, the perspectives of the parties often diverge, and the facts are often intensely disputed. Ultimately, decisions are made based on the relative strength of competing evidence from both parties.

Legal representation can be integral to building a robust evidentiary basis and mounting an effective factual defence. This is because:

• Pieces of evidence are not equal in their probative value, factual relevance and legal materiality.
  • Proper organization and presentation are often crucial for showcasing the strength and relevance of your evidence.
  • Your legal counsel can flag problematic opposing evidence for being unreliable or irrelevant, thus enhancing the chance of a favourable outcome.
• The ACoP Hearing Tribunal has discretion to admit or exclude pieces of evidence and weigh them differently.
  • The Hearing Tribunal is not bound by the courts’ rules of evidence. It has a degree of discretion in admitting, excluding and weighing evidence, and this discretion should be exercised fairly.
  • A lawyer can not only highlight evidence that might otherwise be underconsidered, but also object to opposing evidence that is unduly prejudicial to you, thus reducing the chance of unfair fact-finding.

Skillful Advocacy Can Play a Pivotal Role

A lawyer, as your advocate, will tenaciously examine the strengths and flaws of each argument. This can be vital to the persuasiveness of your defence.

Your legal advocate also assists the adjudicator in making a fair decision, for example:

• A skillful advocate can highlight hidden but important factors which may otherwise be overlooked.
  • This can be especially instrumental when complex or principled analysis is engaged.
  • For example, competence does not equate to perfection. A full-pictured analysis of the entire circumstance may be necessary for determining whether a paramedic has displayed sufficient competence when attending to a patient with a rare and peculiar medical emergency.
• A resourceful advocate can assist the decision-makers with issues that are not within their expertise.
  • Members of the Hearing Tribunal may not necessarily possess the same level of judicial training as a judge. When a legal rule or principle is at issue, legal counsel can play a crucial role in supporting their efforts to make fair decisions.
• Moreover, tenacious advocacy may be necessary to protect your administrative law rights when undergoing a regulatory action. Your administrative law rights are the focus of the next section of this article.

Taylor Janis Workplace Law Advocates for You

As a paramedic, you are well accustomed to challenging situations, but you may need legal support when facing legal challenges. The ACoP Code of Ethics requires you to advocate in the best interest of the patient to receive fair and equitable access to healthcare services, and we lawyers have a similar obligation to advocate for our clients.

Taylor Janis is committed to defending our clients’ best interests in regulatory actions. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need a skillful and zealous advocate.

Safeguarding Your Rights with Legal Representation

When undergoing a disciplinary process, your administrative law and common law rights are constantly engaged, and some of these rights carry constitutional significance.

Protecting your rights is often integral to upholding fairness. Therefore, you should be informed of your rights and prepared to safeguard them. To that end, it is highly recommended that you obtain legal counsel early and have them engaged throughout the entire disciplinary process.

Understanding the Rights

The rights a person has when undergoing regulatory actions are ultimately based on the principles of natural justice and fairness, which can be a difficult and abstract legal concept to grasp. It is often equally difficult to identify potential infringements, especially without legal guidance.

However, to summarize it for informational purposes, you have three broad but distinct rights:

• The right to substantive fairness:
  • This means a decision and its factual and legal reasoning must meet certain standards.
  • The Act provides that a final disciplinary decision made by the ACoP Council can be appealed to the Alberta Court of Appeal. Hence, the standards here are “no palpable and overriding errors” in fact-finding and “correctness” in legal reasoning (Vavilov; Housen).
• The right to procedural fairness:
  • This right is about due process. At its core, this means everyone is entitled to know the particulars of the allegations against them and have appropriate opportunities to make a full answer and defence.
  • The due process can be found under the Act and the ACoP Bylaws.
  • Crucially, an infringement can take place when there is a lack of due process or when due process is conducted unfairly. Hence, spotting infringement of this right may require both legal knowledge and in-depth analysis of the circumstances of a decision-making process.
• The right to unbiased decision makers
  • The legal standard is that decision makers should not give a reasonable apprehension of bias to a reasonable bystander observing the entire decision-making process.
  • Reasonable apprehension of bias is a high legal and factual threshold: it is not any apprehension of bias.

The applicable standards to overturn a final disciplinary decision made by the ACoP Council are the same as the appellate standards on appeal from lower courts. Moreover, courts are required to follow the common law principle of paying deference to regulatory decision makers out of respect for legislative intent.

Hence, it is highly challenging to address infringements through an appeal. The preferred approach to safeguarding your rights is to retain ongoing legal support during a disciplinary process. Having a legal counsel engaged with the entire process means they can spot, flag and object to potential infringement as they arise, which can be essential for upholding your rights.

Early and Ongoing Legal Representation

Your rights are constantly engaged when facing a disciplinary process. Once it is made, it is highly challenging to overturn a disciplinary decision through an appeal.

Hence, our strongest recommendation is that you retain legal counsel early and keep them involved throughout an ACoP disciplinary process, protecting your rights at every step.

You can entrust Taylor Janis to safeguard your rights. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation and secure skilled legal representation.

Independent Legal Advice for Unionized Paramedics

A significant number of paramedics in Alberta work in the public sector and are unionized. Obtaining independent legal advice or representation can be instrumental when facing regulatory challenges, even if you are unionized.

Your union is the exclusive bargaining agent with your employer and has the exclusive right to settle most workplace grievances with them. Your union counsel’s main duty is to represent the union in matters related to the collective agreement. Whereas your own lawyer has a duty to give undivided loyalty to you.

Independent legal advice or representation can be essential when:

• The legal matter concerns the regulators, but not your employer.
  • Such matters are typically not captured by a collective agreement and thus outside of your union counsel’s main duty. This means your union will not necessarily provide the thorough legal advice or full representation required to handle a disciplinary action.
• A complaint results in your employer inappropriately disciplining or dismissing you, but your union is slow to start a grievance procedure.
  • This can happen when your union does not fully understand your perspectives. Your union has a duty to fairly represent you, but it also has some discretion not to start a grievance procedure. In these circumstances, you should obtain independent legal counsel to highlight the factual and legal background of your grievance, which may be effective in persuading your union to put more resources and attention into resolving your matter.

Taylor Janis appreciates that your union and union counsel often play critical roles in representing you through workplace legal challenges, but at times, the value of independent legal advice is simply indispensable.

Contact Taylor Janis Workplace Law at our Edmonton or Calgary office if you have concerns about whether your union will assist you adequately through a regulatory challenge.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Does It Typically Take to Resolve a Disciplinary Matter?

The length of the process depends on many factors, including the legal and factual merits and complexity of the matter, as well as how you respond to the situation. A vexatious or frivolous complaint is likely to be dismissed fairly quickly, but if a matter leads to an investigation or hearing, it can take a few months or even over a year to resolve. A robust and legally informed response can potentially lead to an expedited resolution. If you are concerned about the disruptive effects of the process, you should consider consulting and retaining a lawyer.

How much Does Legal Representation Cost? Will My Professional Liability Insurance Cover the Legal Fees?

Every case is different, so the total cost may vary. At Taylor Janis, we are committed to providing transparent fee structures. Depending on your case, we may be able to offer some flexibility in fee arrangements. Under the ACoP Bylaws, all paramedics holding an active practice permit must maintain professional liability insurance with coverage for disciplinary legal expenses up to a certain amount. We recommend a quick initial consultation with us so we can review your case and provide an estimation.

How Do I Choose the Right Lawyer to Represent Me in an ACoP Regulatory Action?

Regulatory actions are intricate, and each regulatory body has somewhat unique internal procedures. Moreover, regulatory bodies do not exercise their powers and discretion in the same way as a court does. Hence, being experienced in regulatory action is very important. Perspectives on paramedicine are also an asset. Your lawyer should also be committed to offering practical advice and tailored legal plans. The regulatory action legal team at Taylor Janis has a proven track record in resolving regulatory matters favourably, and we have a team member who is a former paramedic. You can entrust Taylor Janis to provide you with the skilled legal support.

What Kind of Evidence Can I Submit in ACoP Disciplinary Proceedings?

Under the Act, the Hearing Tribunal is not bound by the rules of evidence applicable to judicial proceedings. Hence, it has a broad discretion in admitting a variety of evidence (including but not limited to physical evidence, documents and testimony from a witness, including an expert witness). However, you will likely need evidence that is reliable, factually relevant and legally material to mount a strong defence. Legal advice is strongly recommended for preparing your evidence package, regardless of whether it is intended as a response to an investigation or a hearing.

Will Hiring a Lawyer Escalate the Situation with ACoP?

A competent lawyer should know how to avoid unnecessary escalation, and ACoP should not treat you arbitrarily or unfairly simply because you are represented. Remember, you have administrative law rights to fairness and a statutory right to counsel at a hearing. From our experience, having legal counsel shows that you are taking the matter and your integrity seriously, and this may discourage frivolous or vexatious complaints. Hence, a robust response from a lawyer at an early stage of the disciplinary process can lead to its timely resolution, as opposed to escalation.

Conclusion

As a paramedic facing a complaint from the Alberta College of Paramedics, it can be vital to seek legal advice and representation when navigating a regulatory challenge. Legal support can be crucial for assessing and minimizing the risks, navigating the procedural complexity, mounting an effective defence and safeguarding your right to fairness. Even for unionized paramedics, independent legal advice can be essential. When expecting or undergoing a regulatory action, the strongest recommendation is to obtain legal advice as early as possible. For legal advice and a plan tailored to your needs, contact Taylor Janis Edmonton or Calgary office to schedule a consultation.

References:

• Health Professions Act, RSA 2000, c H-7
• Housen v. Nikolaisen, 2002 SCC 33 (CanLII), [2002] 2 SCR 235
• Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 (CanLII), [2019] 4 SCR 653
• Paramedics Profession Regulation, Alta Reg 151/2016
• ACoP Bylaws
• ACoP Standards of Practice
• ACoP Code of Ethics
• Hearing Decision Re: Kossatz, ACoP Hearing Tribunal

Resources for Readers:

• Disciplinary decisions and agreements published by ACoP
• Reporting a complaint to ACoP

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