Ethics Code Deception Provision Scope Limitation Invoked in Present Case
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/146#Ethics_Code_Deception_Provision_Scope_Limitation_Invoked_in_Present_Case
Properties
Instance of
EthicsCodeDeceptionProvisionScopeLimitation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#EthicsCodeDeceptionProvisionScopeLimitation
Applied to
Engineer A's non-disclosure of autism diagnosis to employer and clients
Balancing with
Honesty
Omission Materiality Threshold in Professional Disclosure
Personal Privacy Right in Professional Self-Disclosure
Concrete expression
The Board held that the NSPE Code's 'avoidance of deception' provision cannot be read to compel Engineer A to disclose his autism diagnosis to his employer, because such a reading would give the provision an unintended and far too broad meaning — the deception prohibition targets professional misrepresentation, not the non-disclosure of personal medical conditions protected by the ADA
Confidence
0.93
Importance
high
Interpretation
The deception provision's scope is bounded by the professional-conduct domain of the ethics code; personal characteristics that do not impair competence and are legally protected from employer inquiry fall outside this scope
Invoked by
Board of Ethical Review (present case)
Tension resolution
The scope limitation resolves the apparent tension between honesty/non-deception and personal privacy in favor of privacy, by clarifying that the deception provision was never intended to reach ADA-protected personal conditions
Source Evidence
Source text
The extent of one's legitimate right to privacy cannot be measured by language in the NSPE Code of Ethics relating to the 'avoidance of deception.' To do so would give an unintended and far too broad meaning to the NSPE Code of Ethics.
Text references
The Board finds a clear distinction between the earlier BER cases examining the deception issue and the present case. The facts of the earlier cases indicate an effort to conceal conduct on the part of the individual or associates relating to the practice of engineering or related fields.
The extent of one's legitimate right to privacy cannot be measured by language in the NSPE Code of Ethics relating to the 'avoidance of deception.' To do so would give an unintended and far too broad meaning to the NSPE Code of Ethics.
the facts of the present case demonstrate no effort to conceal any conduct relating to the practice of engineering or related fields. Instead, the facts relate to a personal condition with little if any apparent impact on the individual's ability to successfully practice engineering.
TTL
@prefix case146: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/146#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case146:Ethics_Code_Deception_Provision_Scope_Limitation_Invoked_in_Present_Case a proeth:EthicsCodeDeceptionProvisionScopeLimitation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Ethics Code Deception Provision Scope Limitation Invoked in Present Case" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's non-disclosure of autism diagnosis to employer and clients" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Honesty",
"Omission Materiality Threshold in Professional Disclosure",
"Personal Privacy Right in Professional Self-Disclosure" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board held that the NSPE Code's 'avoidance of deception' provision cannot be read to compel Engineer A to disclose his autism diagnosis to his employer, because such a reading would give the provision an unintended and far too broad meaning — the deception prohibition targets professional misrepresentation, not the non-disclosure of personal medical conditions protected by the ADA" ;
proeth:confidence "0.93" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "146" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T12:18:23.302560+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "146" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T12:18:23.302560+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The deception provision's scope is bounded by the professional-conduct domain of the ethics code; personal characteristics that do not impair competence and are legally protected from employer inquiry fall outside this scope" ;
proeth:invokedby "Board of Ethical Review (present case)" ;
proeth:principleclass "Ethics Code Deception Provision Scope Limitation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "The extent of one's legitimate right to privacy cannot be measured by language in the NSPE Code of Ethics relating to the 'avoidance of deception.' To do so would give an unintended and far too broad meaning to the NSPE Code of Ethics." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The scope limitation resolves the apparent tension between honesty/non-deception and personal privacy in favor of privacy, by clarifying that the deception provision was never intended to reach ADA-protected personal conditions" ;
proeth:textreferences "The Board finds a clear distinction between the earlier BER cases examining the deception issue and the present case. The facts of the earlier cases indicate an effort to conceal conduct on the part of the individual or associates relating to the practice of engineering or related fields.",
"The extent of one's legitimate right to privacy cannot be measured by language in the NSPE Code of Ethics relating to the 'avoidance of deception.' To do so would give an unintended and far too broad meaning to the NSPE Code of Ethics.",
"the facts of the present case demonstrate no effort to conceal any conduct relating to the practice of engineering or related fields. Instead, the facts relate to a personal condition with little if any apparent impact on the individual's ability to successfully practice engineering." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 146 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T12:23:29.914566"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 146 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
146
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-27T12:18:23.302560+00:00
First case
146
Generated
2026-02-27T12:18:23.302560+00:00
Attributed to
Case 146 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T12:23:29.914566
Generated by
ProEthica Case 146 Extraction