Know Your Regulator: The Podcast that Inspires You to Engage
Welcome to Know Your Regulator, the premier podcast dedicated to keeping professional license holders up-to-date on the dynamic landscape of laws, regulations, and legal interpretations that directly affect their careers and businesses. This free, educational series is designed to empower professionals by providing critical insights into the regulatory environment that governs their practices.
Our mission is to offer valuable, accessible information that helps license holders stay informed about their regulators, ensuring they are well-versed in the legal matters that influence their professional reputation and livelihood. Each episode features in-depth interviews with a diverse array of guests, including current and former regulators, esteemed members of the Bertolino Law Firm, and other experts who bring essential knowledge and perspectives to the table.
Join us as we explore the intricacies of professional regulation, offering practical advice, timely updates, and expert commentary to help you navigate the complexities of your profession with confidence and clarity. Tune in to "Know Your Regulator" and stay ahead in your field by understanding the regulatory landscape that shapes your professional life.
Know Your Regulator: The Podcast that Inspires You to Engage is presented by Bertolino LLP.
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Know Your Regulator: The Podcast that Inspires You to Engage
Social Media: The Professional License Killer
Social media has transformed from a personal playground to potential professional quicksand for licensed professionals. The digital footprints we leave behind can now trigger serious regulatory consequences, as licensing boards increasingly scrutinize online behavior with the same rigor they apply to in-person conduct.
Tony Bertolino, managing partner at Bertolino Law Firm, joins us to unpack this critical issue facing professionals across all disciplines. The warning is clear: those casual posts, shared memes, and even heated comment threads can be interpreted as unprofessional conduct by regulatory boards. For attorneys, even vaguely referencing difficult clients could violate confidentiality. Nurses face strict boundaries prohibiting patient connections on social media platforms, with the Texas Board of Nursing explicitly warning that privacy settings offer no protection against ethical violations. Counselors must navigate their own specific guidelines, including never connecting with clients on personal accounts.
What makes this landscape particularly treacherous is how easily problematic content can reach regulatory authorities. Anyone can screenshot and report concerning posts, and if you're already under investigation, boards may comb through your entire social media history looking for patterns of questionable behavior. The consequences range from warnings to license suspension or revocation—putting careers built over decades at risk over momentary lapses in judgment. The advice from experts? Pause before posting and remember that your license represents not just your livelihood but the trust placed in you by the public. Don't let careless online activity jeopardize what you've worked so hard to achieve. For more resources on staying compliant in your profession, check out our newsletter and subscribe to Know Your Regulator.
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This podcast is for educational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal assistance about a legal problem, contact an attorney. Welcome back to Know your Regulator the podcast that inspires you to engage. I am your host, simone Murphy, and today's episode touches something that nearly all of us use every day social media. How can it put your professional license at risk? We're joined by someone who knows this issue inside and out, tony Bertolino, managing partner at the Bertolino Law Firm and author of our most recent newsletter article titled Social Media in your Professional Occupational License. Tony, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you for having me, simone, and I'm glad that we're touching on this topic, because it's a topic that requires a good conversation that professionals need to have regarding social media, so I'm really happy that you're presenting such a topic to the public you know you're presenting such a topic to the public.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, it is. It's very, very topical and super important for licensed professionals to not only know of but completely understand. So let's start at the top. Social media is more than just daily life, but your article makes it very clear for licensed professionals it's more than just posts and pics. What's the big picture idea here?
Speaker 2:Well, what we've seen over the past decade or so is that licensing boards, really across all professions in Texas, are treating social media conduct the same way they treat in-person professional behavior or even misbehavior. And that means that you know these off the cuff kind of posts and shared memes and you know even comment threads, could be interpreted as an unprofessional conduct by a board and could subject a license holder to an investigation for misconduct, especially if this conduct violates privacy rules or ethical guidelines that are created by these licensing agencies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It sounds very serious and, you know, was not something that people really had to worry about 20, 30 years ago. It's definitely changed throughout how technology has evolved throughout how technology has evolved. It has, so it sounds like if someone's just venting or just joking or, like you said, sharing a meme, that it can still come back to bite them.
Speaker 2:Definitely. One example in the article that I made is an attorney posting about a very difficult client that an attorney had. And even if you don't name names, if someone is reading a post on social media and they can identify who you're referring to, you could be violating that attorney-client confidentiality. In this particular case it's, of course, an attorney and the state bar and certainly the boards. They don't play around with this kind of breach and you know so. When making these kinds of posts, you know confidentiality always needs to be in the back of an attorney's mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. You're saying that you know, even if this person doesn't personally know that person, if they can put two and two together that this is who you're talking about. That that can get you in trouble. And you know, in your article you mentioned it wasn't just lawyers. You wrote about CPAs, nurses, counselors, really every board seems to have their own concerns.
Speaker 2:They really do. You know again, with with the use of social media. You know it's. It's just, you know for certain that these licensing boards are going to create laws around social media and you know they're recognizing that. You know is that the Texas Board of Nursing issued a very clear position on this, actually through what's called Statement 15.29, about social media and how that can blur professional boundaries.
Speaker 2:And nurses in particular are in a very unique position of trust, you know, and that trust can be broken online without even realizing it. For example, nurses who post patient information. Of course it's a violation of federal law, even the HIPAA laws, and even vaguely posting this kind of patient information and you know, could get a nurse in very big trouble with the boards. Information, and you know, could get a nurse in very big trouble with the boards Sharing offensive memes or posting inappropriate photos on social media. You know those things could easily be flagged by boards. You know, whether it's the Board of Nursing, the Texas Medical Board or really any licensing agency, it could easily be flagged and could subject a license holder to an investigative notice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I I can say I can attest to it. I've seen, you know, people whom I'm friends with on social media who are nurses or in a licensed profession. It seems like they want to show that they're having fun or how great their job is, but they're posting, you know patient information or you know, close to posting patient information in the process of doing that.
Speaker 1:So you know something they need to be very careful about. I want to break down something you said a little bit more. You mentioned boundaries and the Board of Nursing. What does that look like in practice for nurses?
Speaker 2:Well, in particular for nurses, according to the Board of Nursing. You know professional boundaries are the limits that protect the nurse-patient relationship. Basically, nurses have, you know, a lot of power anyway and patients are in vulnerable positions and you know when these nurses they cross that line, you know involving emotional, financial, social or even sexual violations. You know that could obviously cross those professional boundaries. And the thing about social media is that can sort of blur those lines because the platform itself makes it easy to get too personal too quickly. Nurses are in the job of patient care and that's it. They're not there to be really close friends with their patients. They're not there to give their patients money, help a patient out if a patient happens to be struggling financially. Nurse to give money to a patient, you can't do that. You know obviously emotional and, as I mentioned before, sexual kind of involvement between a patient and a nurse is is certainly things that subject you potentially to a to a violation. Notice a letter from the board of nursing.
Speaker 2:So again social media sort of blurs those lines, but there are laws in place that that are used to sort of unblur those lines, if you will then, and and could open the door to, to, you know, to investigations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you are so right, it really does. It blurs those lines and it kind of you know, can I do this? Can I not do this? It's good to know that the board of nursing has really clear guidelines on that. You know, from my understanding it sounds like something like just connecting with a patient on Facebook or responding to them if they, you know, send you a direct message or somehow contact you directly. That that kind of crosses that line.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that you know, that's actually could be a really good example of a potential violation of professional boundaries and crossing those professional boundaries. The Board of Nursing specifically warns against using privacy settings as a shield. Just because your Facebook page is a friends only doesn't mean you're going to be protected against those professional boundary laws. It could still be a violation of professional boundaries, which you know could result in, you know, any type of disciplinary action, whether it's a warning to the nurse, or perhaps maybe suspension of the nurse license and leading all the way up to revocation of the nursing license. So you know it's pretty serious stuff. I mean, you've got to. You know, if you're a nurse, you've got to maintain those professional boundaries. You're not again. You're there to provide nursing care and that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, it sounds like a really, really slippery slope that we're talking about and switching gears a bit. You also mentioned the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. What is their stance on this?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, their guidance is really focused on maintaining ethical standards, like you know like most all licensing agencies. That's the job. But the counseling board in particular. They're emphasizing and telling these counselors first, don't connect with their clients. And that's what they're called by this type of licensing agency. They're not called patients, they're actually called clients. They're telling these counselors don't connect with these clients on a personal social media account, Just don't do it.
Speaker 2:Always get informed consent before using social media in any client-related way. Avoid disclosing any identifying client information, even indirectly. Again, you've got to maintain confidentiality. Another thing that they're telling counselors is use secure platforms if you're providing services online. Secure platforms If you're providing services online, you know you've got to make sure that there's no way that you can get an outsider to go in and breach the security systems in these platforms and therefore gain access to confidential information. And then of course you know, be a good person, be civil, be respectful, be aware that what you post could reflect negatively on you, and certainly reflects on your professional identity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what happens if someone violates those rules?
Speaker 2:Well, you know that's when you may be subjected to, you know, discipl online, sexual misconduct or unprofessional behavior, even making racist or discriminatory comments, and even things like misrepresenting credentials or making inappropriate remarks about clients or patients.
Speaker 2:Again, what we're talking about is not necessarily, you know, one-on-one misbehavior but, behavior done on the internet, done on these social media platforms, and these licensing agencies are not going to tolerate it. From their perspective, misbehavior is misbehavior, and if it's in violation of a particular rule or law and you're unprofessional in your conduct, it's going to open you to to being investigated. And so you've got to be, you got to be mindful.
Speaker 1:So how does the board, how do they find out about these posts? Are these you know? Is someone taking a screenshot and sending them in, or do you know how that happens? How do they see these posts?
Speaker 2:You know, first of all the posts are made public, of course, and you know anybody can report a post that they see that they had. You know that suggests in their minds that there could be unprofessional conduct through these posts and they can, you know, easily notify the board and let them know. And that's where it gets a lot of license holders in trouble. You know, we tend to vent our frustrations on social media just generally, as people right.
Speaker 2:And you know, but when you're a licensed professional, you're held to that higher standard. You know you're, you're granted a license and you're given, you know certain, certain responsibilities that that are that are not typically given to a normal person who's not licensed and posts whatever they want. And the board really, at any time can go into your social media postings If they're notified about a postings by you know anybody. You know someone can complain about you about a particular posting, or you happen to be under investigation currently and the board is very interested in seeing what social media postings that you've recently posted. You know it can really add to the allegations that have already been made against you. For example, if you're accused of drunk driving or drunkenness at work and you're a license holder and you're impaired at work and you have a ton of posts of you chugging beer or you're at a late night after hours party, you're really misbehaving and showing party. You know you're, you're, you're, you're really misbehaving and showing misbehavior in your online posts Well, that's evidence that can be used against you.
Speaker 2:You know, you know the bottom line is is.
Speaker 2:You know misbehavior is misbehavior, and and and if you've got you know sort of a timeline or a history of drunk or a history of drunkenness and you're being accused of a DWI by a board, well, you know it just makes sense that they're going to perhaps use that evidence against you and show that you've got a history of this and you know it's not just a one time thing and that you've been doing it. You know. You know for many months or perhaps years, you know, depending on how far your posts go and how long ago you know they were able to obtain these, these evidentiary posts, if you will. So you know it certainly be damaging to your case again, whether you're being investigated or if you're involved in an actual hearing. So you've got to be you know you've got again you got to be very mindful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It's a great point to make. So what would be your advice for license holders who are active on social media?
Speaker 2:You know. I would suggest that you know before you post, pause for a minute. You have to understand that your license is part of your livelihood. You rely on your license to feed your families and your children and to live and pay your mortgage. It allows you to practice in the area that you work so hard to obtain to go to school and to obtain a license in. To go to school and to obtain a license in. You know you're in positions of trust. You know you're not just earning a living from what you're doing, but you're also using your license to serve others. You know. I suggest and advise that you just don't let careless tweets or heated Facebook posts jeopardize that what you've done so hard to achieve in your life. You know again, be mindful, stay professional and, more importantly, know the boundaries that your board expects you to uphold.
Speaker 1:The big one, absolutely. Well, Tony, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon and shedding light on this really really important topic.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Thanks for having me, Simone.
Speaker 1:It's always a pleasure to be on To our viewers. Please remember, what you post online isn't just personal, it's professional. If you hold a license, it is your responsibility to stay informed and stay in compliance. You can find Tony's full article in our latest newsletter and check out Know your Regulator for more resources on staying compliant in your profession. Until next time, stay inspired and continue engaging with your regulatory agency.
Speaker 2:Know your.
Speaker 1:Regulator the podcast that inspires you to engage.