Standard 1.02: Professional conduct and keeping commitments
RBTs behave professionally, take responsibility for what they do, and make a real effort to keep the promises they make at work, including those in their employment agreements. When a commitment can't be kept, they work it out with their supervisor in the way that best serves the client.
What it means in practice
Day to day this looks like arriving on time, running sessions as scheduled, giving notice through the proper channel when you can't attend, and completing notes and data when they are due. Accountability means owning your mistakes: if you skipped a program, missed a data collection period or made an error in a note, you say so and tell your supervisor instead of hiding it.
Commitments include the schedule you agreed to and any employment agreement you signed, such as a notice period. Life happens, and the standard does not say you can never change plans. It says that when you can't meet a commitment, you work with your supervisor so the client is affected as little as possible, for example by giving notice early, helping plan coverage, or handing off information under your supervisor's direction.
What the standard rules out is simply disappearing: stopping sessions without notice, ignoring messages from a family, or quietly letting a commitment drop and hoping no one notices.
Scenarios
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You have accepted a new job and are tempted to stop showing up to your current sessions without telling anyone. | Tell your supervisor as early as possible, follow the notice terms of your employment agreement, and work with your supervisor on a transition plan for each client so services are not suddenly interrupted. |
| Your car breaks down 30 minutes before a home session. | Notify the family and your supervisor or scheduling team right away through your organization's cancellation procedure, and record the cancellation accurately. Ask your supervisor about rescheduling if the policy allows it. |
| Halfway through the week you realize you forgot to run one of a client's programs on Monday. | Do not fill in data for a program you did not run. Record it as not run, tell your supervisor, and ask whether anything else needs to be done. |
| A family asks you to commit to extra weekend sessions every week, but you know you can't sustain that schedule. | Don't agree to something you can't follow through on. Thank them and refer the scheduling request to your supervisor, who decides on service hours. |
Practice questions
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Question 1The RBT is sick and has to cancel a week of sessions. What should the RBT do?
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D: Notify the supervisor and document per policy. Missed sessions affect the client's progress and must be handled through the organization's process.
- A: Scheduling make-up sessions is not the RBT's decision alone.
- B: The supervisor needs to know about missed services.
- C: Arranging coverage informally skips the supervisor and organization.
Task E.3 · RBT Ethics Code 1.02 · 40-hour curriculum section F
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Question 2An RBT learns that their college class schedule will change next month, and they will no longer be able to attend two of a client's weekly sessions. What does the RBT Ethics Code expect?
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C: Tell the supervisor early and work with them on a plan that serves the client. RBTs try to follow through on work commitments. When a commitment cannot be met, Standard 1.02 says they work with their supervisor to address the situation in the best interest of clients.
- A: Simply stopping breaks a work commitment without addressing the client's needs.
- B: Rearranging services alone bypasses the supervisor, who must be involved.
- D: Arranging coverage without the supervisor may place an untrained person with the client.
Task F.1 · RBT Ethics Code 1.02
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Question 3An RBT realizes that for the past week they have been giving a client a reinforcer for requests that came right after hitting, which the client's DRA plan says not to do. What should the RBT do?
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A: Tell the supervisor promptly and note which sessions were affected. Behaving with integrity includes being accountable for one's own errors (Standard 1.02). Reporting a procedural error promptly lets the supervisor interpret the data correctly and retrain if needed.
- B: The supervisor needs to know, because the error may explain changes in the data.
- C: Deleting data hides the error and makes the record inaccurate.
- D: Waiting delays the supervisor's decisions and is not accountable.
Task F.1 · RBT Ethics Code 1.02 · RBT Ethics Code 2.02
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Question 4An RBT accidentally emails a client's session note to the wrong family. What should the RBT do?
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B: Tell the supervisor right away and follow the agency's breach process. RBTs protect client confidentiality by following employer and legal requirements (Standard 2.08). Reporting a mistake promptly lets the agency respond as privacy laws and policy require.
- A: Handling it privately leaves the agency unable to meet its duties after a breach.
- C: The supervisor and agency must know so the breach can be handled correctly.
- D: Delay makes the breach worse and is not honest or accountable.
Task F.5 · RBT Ethics Code 2.08 · RBT Ethics Code 1.02
Answer every question to see your score.
Where it sits in the code
Standard 1.02 is in section 1, General Responsibilities, of the RBT Ethics Code (2.0). On the exam it relates to task F.9 Interpersonal and professional skills. Read the official text for the exact wording.
Related standards: 2.03 Professionalism and using feedback, 2.02 Following direction, accurate implementation and documentation, 1.01 Honesty and following the rules.