Engineer A Free Enterprise Departure Right Non-Proscription Recognition
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/178#Engineer_A_Free_Enterprise_Departure_Right_Non-Proscription_Recognition
Properties
Instance of
FreeEnterpriseDepartureRightNon-Ethical-ProscriptionRecognitionObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#FreeEnterpriseDepartureRightNon-Ethical-ProscriptionRecognitionObligation
Case context
The BER affirmed the fundamental free enterprise right of engineers to depart employers and establish competing firms, finding no general ethical proscription against Engineer A's departure.
Compliance status
met
Confidence
0.85
Importance
high
Obligated party
Engineer A and BER as evaluator
Obligation statement
The BER was obligated to recognize that Engineer A's decision to depart ABC and establish an independent firm raised no general ethical proscription, and that any ethical constraints must be grounded in specific NSPE Code provisions rather than a general presumption against competitive departure.
Temporal scope
At the time of ethical evaluation of Engineer A's departure decision
Relationships
Source Evidence
Source text
It is not unusual for engineers, employed by others, at some point, to break off from their employer and go into business for themselves. This is a fundamental principle of this nation's free enterprise system and generally should not be discouraged. As a general matter, this practice raises no ethical issues for the BER's consideration
Text references
It is not unusual for engineers, employed by others, at some point, to break off from their employer and go into business for themselves. This is a fundamental principle of this nation's free enterprise system and generally should not be discouraged. As a general matter, this practice raises no ethical issues for the BER's consideration
the Board can find no general ethical proscription limiting Engineer A's decision to establish an engineering firm
TTL
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@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@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#> .
case178:Engineer_A_Free_Enterprise_Departure_Right_Non-Proscription_Recognition a proeth:FreeEnterpriseDepartureRightNon-Ethical-ProscriptionRecognitionObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A Free Enterprise Departure Right Non-Proscription Recognition" ;
proeth-core:competesWith case178:Engineer_A_Faithful_Agent_Conduct_During_ABC_Employment ;
proeth-core:prevailsOver case178:Engineer_A_Faithful_Agent_Conduct_During_ABC_Employment ;
proeth:casecontext "The BER affirmed the fundamental free enterprise right of engineers to depart employers and establish competing firms, finding no general ethical proscription against Engineer A's departure." ;
proeth:compliancestatus "met" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.85" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple case178:At-Will_Employment_Symmetry_Invoked_for_Engineer_A_Departure_Right,
case178:Free_Enterprise_Departure_Right_Invoked_for_Engineer_A ;
proeth:discoveredincase "178" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T08:38:32.552396+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "178" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T08:38:32.552396+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:obligatedparty "Engineer A and BER as evaluator" ;
proeth:obligationclass "Free Enterprise Departure Right Non-Ethical-Proscription Recognition Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationstatement "The BER was obligated to recognize that Engineer A's decision to depart ABC and establish an independent firm raised no general ethical proscription, and that any ethical constraints must be grounded in specific NSPE Code provisions rather than a general presumption against competitive departure." ;
proeth:sourcetext "It is not unusual for engineers, employed by others, at some point, to break off from their employer and go into business for themselves. This is a fundamental principle of this nation's free enterprise system and generally should not be discouraged. As a general matter, this practice raises no ethical issues for the BER's consideration" ;
proeth:temporalscope "At the time of ethical evaluation of Engineer A's departure decision" ;
proeth:textreferences "It is not unusual for engineers, employed by others, at some point, to break off from their employer and go into business for themselves. This is a fundamental principle of this nation's free enterprise system and generally should not be discouraged. As a general matter, this practice raises no ethical issues for the BER's consideration",
"the Board can find no general ethical proscription limiting Engineer A's decision to establish an engineering firm" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 178 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T08:48:26.001349"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 178 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
178
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T08:38:32.552396+00:00
First case
178
Generated
2026-03-01T08:38:32.552396+00:00
Attributed to
Case 178 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T08:48:26.001349
Generated by
ProEthica Case 178 Extraction