IDES Professional Ethics & Standards 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An employer's HR representative offers an IDES auditor a free lunch during a compliance visit. According to professional ethics standards, the auditor should:
- Accept since it is a normal business courtesy
- Decline to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest (Correct answer)
- Accept only if the meal costs less than $15
- Accept and disclose it in the audit report
Correct answer: Decline to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest
Accepting meals or hospitality from parties under audit creates an appearance of bias and violates professional ethics standards.
Question 2: A claimant's attorney contacts an IDES adjudicator directly by phone to discuss a pending appeal. The adjudicator should:
- Discuss the merits of the case freely since attorneys are officers of the court
- Decline ex parte communication and direct the attorney to submit comments in writing (Correct answer)
- Tell the attorney the likely outcome to save everyone time
- Transfer the call to a supervisor to handle informally
Correct answer: Decline ex parte communication and direct the attorney to submit comments in writing
Ex parte communications with parties or their representatives about pending matters are prohibited to preserve procedural fairness.
Question 3: Under professional standards applicable to IDES certification, which action constitutes misuse of official position?
- Using agency databases to look up a neighbor's employment history out of personal curiosity (Correct answer)
- Accessing claimant records to process an assigned appeal
- Reviewing employer wage records during a scheduled audit
- Researching case law to support a determination
Correct answer: Using agency databases to look up a neighbor's employment history out of personal curiosity
Using official access to government databases for personal purposes unrelated to assigned duties constitutes misuse of official position.
Question 4: An IDES employee plans to take a part-time job with a UI consulting firm that advises employers on appeals. This situation requires:
- No action since off-duty employment is a private matter
- Disclosure and approval under the agency's outside employment ethics policy (Correct answer)
- Immediate resignation from IDES
- Disclosure only if the consulting firm has an active case before IDES
Correct answer: Disclosure and approval under the agency's outside employment ethics policy
Outside employment that creates a potential conflict of interest must be disclosed and approved under state ethics rules before beginning.
Question 5: When an IDES determination is later found to be based on a factual error the employee made, professional standards require the employee to:
- Correct the record quietly and hope no one notices
- Immediately report and document the error and take corrective action through proper channels (Correct answer)
- Wait to see if the claimant appeals before acting
- Blame the error on incomplete information provided by the claimant
Correct answer: Immediately report and document the error and take corrective action through proper channels
Professional accountability requires proactively reporting and correcting errors rather than concealing them.
Question 6: Which principle of professional ethics requires IDES staff to keep their knowledge of unemployment insurance law and procedures current?
- Competence (Correct answer)
- Confidentiality
- Impartiality
- Transparency
Correct answer: Competence
The principle of competence obliges professionals to maintain the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their duties effectively.
Question 7: A claimant tells an IDES interviewer they are undocumented. Beyond eligibility determinations, the employee's ethical obligation regarding this information is to:
- Report it to immigration enforcement immediately
- Keep it confidential and use it only for program administration as law permits (Correct answer)
- Share it with the employer to explain why the claimant left work
- Post it in the case file notes visible to all agency staff
Correct answer: Keep it confidential and use it only for program administration as law permits
Sensitive personal information disclosed during UI proceedings must be kept confidential and used only as authorized by program law.
IDES Professional Ethics & Standards 3
An employer's HR representative offers an IDES auditor a free lunch during a compliance visit.
According to professional ethics standards, the auditor should: