Ethics Violations and Alleged Violations

Any violations should be reported to Chapter Leadership and/or to SCORE District Director, Regional Vice President, or Vice President of Field Operations. If the grievance involves the leadership of the chapter or district, the volunteer should directly contact the Vice President of Field Operations at the SCORE Association office. When a violation of the SCORE Code of Ethics and Conduct is alleged, every effort should be made to resolve differences through informal discussions. If this fails, all allegations of ethics violations will be investigated thoroughly, including both the volunteers, clients, and organizations in question. This includes allegations of misbehavior internally, including discrimination or sexual impropriety.

Alleged Violations

When a violation of the SCORE Code of Ethics is alleged, every effort should be made to resolve differences through informal discussions. Should that fail, the following procedure should be used:

• The chapter chair will document and notify the volunteer of the alleged violation of the Code of Ethics and will ask the volunteer to respond to the charge within 72 hours.
• After an investigation of all facts and circumstances of the alleged noncompliance with the code, and if the chapter chair and chapter Executive Committee concur that a violation of the Code of Ethics and Conduct has taken place, the volunteer will be notified of their decision to terminate or suspend that person’s membership in SCORE. 
  1. The chapter roster will be modified accordingly with the status ‘terminated’.
  2. The volunteer’s clients will be informed in writing that the mentor is no longer a SCORE volunteer and that SCORE cannot be held accountable for the future actions or advice of the former mentor. 
  3. The chapter will assign all clients to a new mentor.
• If the chapter chair and chapter Executive Committee conclude that there has been no violation, they will notify the volunteer. If a violation is found but does not warrant removal or suspension, a written reprimand including the reasons for such action will be sent to the volunteer.
• If the chapter chair or a member of the Executive Committee is the volunteer involved in the alleged violation, the District Director will be substituted for the chapter chair in the proceedings.
• Any documented ethics complaints and actions must be retained for 5 years. 
• When a District Director has sufficient information to believe that a chapter volunteer or officer has acted or plans to act in a manner that violates SCORE rules or its Code of Ethics and Conduct and feels that immediate action is needed, he or she will notify the volunteer or officer of his or her suspension from membership or office. The District Director shall provide for continued leadership of the chapter during any suspension of the chapter chair.