Professional Signatures

[FlamesAddiction]

A question for members of professional associations.

I left my position with an engineering firm a couple of years ago after enduring what was a pretty abusive and corrupt work environment. It was not on good terms when I left. I found out after I left that at least 2 reports were issued with me as the reviewer (not the author) about 3 months after I left. It was used without my written permission which was always required. The reports are publicly available as they were written for a municipality. I found them online by Googling my old email address.

I was going to let it go as they were projects that I worked on and were almost complete when I left.

But now I found out a friend of mine left her position with the same company and after leaving, found out that her professional engineer's signature was used on a proposal after she left. One that she never heard of. And she was awesome to work with and put up with so much crap from the same people I did. I want to support her on this. It seems like this is a systematic issue with this company. They are a large company with dozens of offices across Canada. It also makes me wonder how many private reports might be out there with my name on them for projects that I had nothing to do with.

I can't seem to find much information online as to whether this is illegal and if so, how to go about addressing it. I think that if I contact the company, they will probably just cover their tracks and keep getting away with it. I am also back in the industry with another company, but a small one, so I worry about getting involved in professional drama.

Any advice?

[bigrangy]

I’m only an EIT with very little experience with the professional side of engineering but this sounds like something that APEGA would be able to sort out.

Has your coworker ever contacted APEGA about this?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

I’m only an EIT with very little experience with the professional side of engineering but this sounds like something that APEGA would be able to sort out.

Has your coworker ever contacted APEGA about this?

She is only registered in Ontario and the engineers and scientists are different associations there (he is a P.Geo, she is a P.Eng. and me a P.Ag.). But no, I don't think she contacted them yet. I suppose it would be a good start though.

Edit: My mistake, she is an R.P. Bio.

[snootchiebootchies]

I would e-mail the company and request that they stop using my digital signature without my permission.

[GGG]

If the firm has a permit to practice with APEGA that is where I would complain. I’m not sure how anonymously it could be done but they certainly would investigate.

The risk is that as an engineer if that information causes harm you could be held liable for the professional work contained in there so potentially pretty serious consequences.

Is it possible that this was just an administrative person screwing up as opposed to intentional fraud?

[lazypucker]

What does your company's name rhyme with?

I kid, I kid...

Anyways, is there a difference between a Reviewer and an Approver for engineering stamp? I work in IT and being a reviewer doesn't mean a whole lot, the bulk of the responsibility (liability when sh*t goes wrong) lies with the approver and the project sponsor...

[snootchiebootchies]

Originally Posted by GGG

Is it possible that this was just an administrative person screwing up as opposed to intentional fraud?

Can't speak for the original poster but if this was my company, it would likely be some inadvertent screw-up. When trying to finish reports within tight deadlines, one will often cut and paste from other reports, including the closure/signatures section.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

What does your company's name rhyme with?

I kid, I kid...

Anyways, is there a difference between a Reviewer and an Approver for engineering stamp? I work in IT and being a reviewer doesn't mean a whole lot, the bulk of the responsibility (liability when sh*t goes wrong) lies with the approver and the project sponsor...

Yeah, I don't know. I did essentially write the report, so they made the conscious decision to keep me on as a reviewer and put some random noob as the author with no designation. The second report, I had much less to do with though.

So I don't know where the liability would be when the reviewer has the stamp, not the author.

[Weitz]

I don’t stamp stuff but if I did and I had my name going out on stuff when I didn’t work there I would be contacting them definitely. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a mistake. Who wants to have the name of someone on a report that doesn’t work there?

[Canadianman]

Sounds like fraud to me. I'd report it to APEGA.

[calgarygeologist]

A couple things at play here from what I remember about APEGA ethics. One, when you are signed off/stamped on a document you are responsible for it and you should have either written/prepared the work, overseen the work or thoroughly reviewed the work. Two, you are supposed to be in control of your stamp.

You guys should certainly be reporting these concerns to APEGA and whatever other bodies might be involved. They will investigate and I'm assuming they will correct the matter. I believe they actually take this stuff pretty seriously. I would think that if there is wrong doing or misuse that APEGA will come down hard on whomever is the Practicing Member, or whatever the term is, for the organization. It could even go so far as pulling their permit to practice but if they are a large firm I doubt that would actually happen.

[Matata]

Sounds like pretty minor stuff, but you pretty much have to report it, not reporting it could hurt you down the line, no point taking a bullet for a company that's disrespected you. It'll also help protect other members of the company who've gotten similar treatment and are unaware of it..

[CaptainYooh]

I don't want to sound dismissive, but I have been a practicing engineer for 30 years I am somewhat skeptical about your interpretation of facts here.

If you have reviewed another professional's work in the report while employed by that company, it has the full right to use your name on the report and you remain fully responsible for that report after leaving employment within APEGA professional liability guidelines. The company can't forge your signature (unless you had previously used electronic signatures as a normal practice while employed there; then it can use it), but they can use your name and title on the work you had done without any ethical issues.

If you have not reviewed the report and your name was used, then it's fraud and severe practice code violation. A simple complaint filed with APEGA will have the company lose their license to practice for doing that. Do it and kill two birds with one stone: have the unauthorized use of your name stop and have your revenge at the same time.

My skepticism comes from the following: if this is a national engineering firm with hundreds of engineers under employment, why would they ever need to use unauthorized signature of a disgruntled employee on a report he didn't review?

P.S. I've re-read my post and it reads a bit harsh, sorry. I didn't mean it that way. You seem to be seeking advice. Feel free to PM me if you think more details would help a better understanding. I will respond promptly.