Legal and Ethical Compliance Requirements and Responsibilities, Policies, And Procedures

Part 2 

This paper reviews Autism Western Australia regarding its compliance to policies pertaining to providing disability services. Australia has detailed and strict requirements that disability service providers must comply with. Disability service providers must follow the Disability Act (2016). Autism Western Australia is one of the humanitarian service providers operating in Australia (Autism Western Australia, 2021). It mainly deals with individuals who have autism disorders in the country. The government outlines legal compliance requirements for licensing and accreditation for organizations that intend to provide services to the disabled. The policy regarding service providers that was updated in September 2020 provides the legislative and policy requirements for disability any entity that wants to provide disability services. 

While established organizations require compliance to the regulations and laws set, most of the organizations have compliance departments with a team of lawyers to promote compliance. Big organizations have compliance training to ensure the members abide by the set policies and procedures when performing different duties in their routines (MacDonald & Marcoux, n.d.). While compliance is not largely practiced by many organizations, it is becoming popular in dealing with issues of corporate cultures. Regarding Autism Western Australia Organization, policies and compliance is key in ensuring employees conform to the guidelines of the organization. 

Autism Western Australia as a disability service provider undergoes full certification review at least once in a period of three years. The organization also maintains their certificates in the office library as required by the standards according to the process of the endorsed independent review body (Dhhs.com, 2021). Autism Western Australia was registered under the Disability (2016), a year before the state disability allowed them to engage in service provisioned and exist under the Disability Act (2006). Service agreements permit one to practice or deliver disability services in accordance with the law. The organization demonstrated compliance with the humanitarian services standard through the documents by undertaking an online self-assessment tool that can be accessed online from the department (Dhhs.gov, 2020). The department also stipulates that registered disability service providers must be reviewed against standards before the end of the first year since registration, of which Autism fulfilled (QPRO, 2021). They also achieve and maintain the required accreditation. Failure to meet the standards accreditation instructions is treated as a breach of the service agreement that was issued to the organization. The department can compel a service provider to undertake an independent review at any time. 

Ethical responsibilities 

Autism Western Australia is guided by the ethical requirement of the standard. Its ethical considerations include ensuring that rights are promoted and upheld accordingly. People should also access their rights transparently and equitably as stipulated by the standards (NCCHC, 2020). Clients’ safety and wellbeing should also be promoted and upheld. People should be allowed to make informed choices which gives them the freedom to independently make decisions. The service provider should be able to embed and promote rights of the disabled people. They are also mandated to provide quality services that comply with the client’s needs. The service provider is responsible for ensuring improvement in their services. Through ethical responsibilities, it is easy to follow the available policies in the organization. 

Policies to support the legal and ethical compliance requirements and responsibilities 

There are several policies implemented to support the legal and ethical compliance requirements and responsibilities. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services have a list of the accepted bodies that are responsible for various activities regarding assessments. Independent review body and the management standards are responsible for the team. Therefore, organizations that are funded by the department must meet the accreditation or certificate level of the given review body for them to be funded (Nibusiness Infor, 2020). This ensures that organizations are accountable and responsible for their performance in the society. 

Procedures developed to support compliance 

The Human services standards evidence works together with the service providers to ensure that they comply with the law. The service department can force a provider to undertake an assessment at any time (Victoria University, n.d.). If the entity fails to meet the required pass, their license can be revoked and regarded as a breach of law. Any breach of law is punishable. Also, requiring an organization to undergo an assessment once in three years ensures that the company stays focused on its objectives as provided by the law. The review bodies include the SAI global, The Australia Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), the Global-mark, Quality Innovation Performance (QIP) among other organizations (Dhhs.gov, 2020). When the procedures are clear, they support compliance and streamline issues in the organization. 

Leaders in the disability providing services are responsible for ensuring that the team follows the standards too. This promotes service delivery to the organization as the procedures are clear and easy to adopt. If a team member is not able to comply with the set procedures, it derails service delivery and works as a setback to the organization. Policies developed with a clear division of roles becomes easy to implement. This ensures every member of the organization is responsible for the outcomes of the policy as it supports compliance. 

Part 3; Developing Policy and procedure in a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) 

Overview of the Policy 

The objectives of this policy is to provide guidelines on how the employees of this organization should conduct themselves in and outside the office premise. It also covers how issues should be communicated whenever they arise. The procedures should be used whenever a team member witnesses or realizes that a colleague has been involved in unethical conduct within or outside the organization. The policy has straightforward guidelines for each member to read and understand the policy in accordance with the laid procedures. A good policy promotes good working relationships and helps to put forward the organizations plans if well implemented. This improves departments as every employee becomes involved in the policy implementation. 

Areas of the responsibility 

The human resource department, the IT department and the Disciplinary department are in charge of this procedure. Therefore, the managers in the above departments are responsible for executing this policy. They need to work as a team to implement the laid down procedures. 

Employee Conduct Policy 

Policy Title: Employee Conduct within and outside the Organization Premise 

Responsible Departments: Human Resource, Information Technology department (IT), Disciplinary Department, Information security department 

Responsible office: Human Resource Office, Information technology office, disciplinary office, information security office 

Responsible Executives: A ll Department managers 

Endorsed by: Disciplinary officer 

Contact: disciplinaryoffice@gmail.com 

Effective date: First version April 13 th , 2021 

Last Update: April 15 th , 2021. 

Policy statement 

This policy is to provide employee guidelines that will ensure that all employees of this organization conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the ethics of this organization. The policy will prevent the employees from engaging in unethical acts such as ignoring clients without a good reason for that. The policy also forbids any employee from giving money to colleagues with an aim of making the colleagues to conceal unacceptable behaviors. Finally, the policy will also guide the employees to stop posting any photos of the clients on their social media accounts. Only the IT department can upload photos on the companies’ social platforms. Failure to comply with this policy will lead to disciplinary action to the individual or group that can lead to termination and fine. 

Who is affected by the policy? 

This policy applies to all employees of the Autism Organization and the clients. 

Standard operating procedure: Employee Conduct 

Purpose: To document the process of reporting and employee engaging in ethical misconduct 

Scope: Employee and Disciplinary office 

Prerequisites: All employee misconducts should be reported via any communication channel to the disciplinary committee at any time of the day. 

Responsibilities: Ensure any misconduct is reported and a disciplinary action taken against the offenders. 

Procedure 

Once a misconduct is seen or reported by any member of staff or clients, ensure that the information is reported for investigations to the disciplinary office within 48 hours. 

Once the investigation into the conduct is complete, the disciplinary office will provide a notice on the same clearing the offender or punishing them as per the organizational rules. 

The offence shall be termed closed once the disciplinary action is fulfilled and the offender directed on what to do. 

References 

Autism Western Australia. (2021, February 25). Autism Association of Western Australia.  https://autism.org.au/ 

Dhhs. (2020).  Human Services Standards Policy . https://providers.dhhs.vic.gov.au/human-services-standards-policy.  https://providers.dhhs.vic.gov.au/human-services-standards-policy 

MacDonald, C., & Marcoux, A. (n.d.). The Concise Encyclopedia of Business Ethics.  https://conciseencyclopedia.org 

NCCHC. (2020).  Ethical and legal issues .  https://www.ncchc.org/cnp-ethical-legal 

Nibusiness Infor. (2020).  Advantages of employment policies . nibusinessinfo.co.uk | Practical advice for Northern Ireland Business.  https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advantages-employment-policies 

Victoria University. (n.d.).  Compliance - Policy development procedure . Home / Victoria University Policy Library.  https://policy.vu.edu.au/document/view.php?id=221