Not Receiving a Notice is Never an Excuse

Not receiving correspondence from the College is never an acceptable excuse for missing a deadline or for not complying with a College requirement. The College sends all important notices well ahead of deadlines and in multiple formats:  email notices and reminders,  College newsletter, on our website, on Facebook and Twitter.

In spite of our multiple communication efforts, however, we hear from some members that they did not receive essential information. Usually, this has happened because their contact information was not updated at the College when they moved or changed their work place.

Why is it important to update your contact information right away?

Here are four examples of what happened when members did not update there contact information.

1. A member called the College because her temporary certificate was about to expire, but she had still not received her exam results.

Staff reviewed her file and found that her results had been sent to her four weeks prior to the call. The member had moved shortly after her application had been processed, and she had forgotten to update her contact information with the College.

2. A member left a voicemail message with her name, but no phone number.

When staff looked her up in the College’s database, her name was not found and we were unable to respond to her practice inquiry. The member called back later because she had not received a response to her voicemail. It was only then that she remembered to inform the College that she had been married and was now using her married name.

3. A member was sent an email notice that she was required to complete the Jurisprudence Knowledge and Assessment Tool (JKAT).

The member never received the email and reminder notices that she was required to complete the JKAT. As a result, the member did not complete it before the deadline and the Quality Assurance Committee referred her to the Inquiries Complaints and Reports Committee for not complying with the Quality Assurance Program requirements.

4. A member moved and did not update her information with the College.

As a result, she did not receive the:

• Her annual renewal notice
• The College newsletter with the renewal reminder
• Several email reminders about the renewal deadline
• Her late fee notices when she missed the renewal deadline
• The resulting notice of suspension for non-payment of fees

The member discovered that she had been suspended when she was told by a colleague that her suspension had appeared in the newsletter. To be reinstated, the member paid her annual renewal fee as well as a late fee.

The late fee was not waived because the member had failed to update her contact information, which is why she did not receive any of the notices. Each year, the renewal deadline is on the same date, October 31. So, although she had not received the notice and reminder emails, she was still responsible for renewing her membership and should have contacted the College when she did not receive a renewal notice.

Updating your contact information is a professional duty.

As regulated professionals, dietitians have a duty to update their contact information  so that we can communicate with them as necessary and avoid issues such as those described above. Under the Professional Misconduct Regulation (s. 35.2), “Failing to inform the Registrar of a change of any information required to be contained in the College’s register within 30 days after the change occurring”, is considered professional misconduct.