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November 18, 2025 16 mins

Your license can survive tough days, but it rarely survives silence, shortcuts, or a sloppy paper trail. We dive into the five hidden rules that boards enforce, and how they differ from the fast-and-loose culture that creeps into busy workplaces. From the first moment a board letter lands in your mailbox to the last keystroke you type into an email or DM, we lay out a practical playbook for keeping your professional career intact.

We start with the most expensive mistake: ignoring a notice. You’ll hear how default judgments form without your input and why quick, documented responses preserve your voice in the process. Then we unpack why everyday messages, emails, texts, DMs, even “disappearing” chats can become evidence, and how metadata turns a casual forward into a compliance event. We share simple fixes: use approved systems, strip identifiers, and create habits that make the right path the fast path.

Culture says “everyone does it.” Regulators don’t. Through a vivid case study, we show how co-signing, templated notes, and presence implied on paper can end a career during a routine audit. We also map the social media minefield: background identifiers in photos, location tags tied to your workplace, jokes without context, and unauthorized testimonials. The golden rule stands: if you wouldn’t want the board to see it, don’t post it.

Finally, we tackle self-reporting. Many boards require you to disclose arrests and other triggers quickly, even before outcomes are decided. Non-reporting reads as dishonesty and often draws harsher discipline than the underlying event. Know your timelines, consult counsel before you reply, and own the first draft of your story.

If you hold a license—teacher, nurse, dentist, realtor, or any regulated pro—this is your toolkit for turning risk into routine. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review telling us which habit you’ll put in place today.

Get more information, details and resources on Know Your Regulator - https://www.belolaw.com/know-your-regulator




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Episode Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This podcast is for educational purposes only, does
not constitute legal advice, anddoes not create an
attorney-client relationship.
If you need legal assistanceabout a legal problem, contact
an attorney.
You've worked hard for yourlicense.
Years of school, exams, latenights, trainings, lots of real
sacrifice.
But here's the terrifying partthat nobody really tells you.

(00:22):
Licensed professionals losetheir careers every single day.
Not because of fraud thatthey've committed, not because
they've gone and maliciouslyharmed someone, but because of
tiny rule violations that theynever knew existed.
I'm Simone Murfrey, and this isKnow Your Regulator.
Today we're going to be walkingthrough, counting down actually,

(00:44):
the five hidden rules that couldtake away your license
overnight.
So let's get into it.
So we'll start off with rulenumber five.
Silence will not save you.
If the board sends you a letterthat clock is already ticking,
right?
The process has already started.
Ignoring it is really viewed asnon-compliance.

(01:05):
Like you are ignoring it.
And that alone can cost you yourlicense.
The boards don't assume thatyou're innocent, right?
They have evidence potentiallyagainst you.
If you don't respond to yourboard, they will continue the
process with or without you.
So you could completely ignoreit and then find out that your

(01:28):
license has been revoked or youhave a thousands of dollar
judgment against you.
And because you weren't a partof the process, because you
didn't respond initially,they're over there making
decisions about your licensethat affect you, and you have no
say in that.
So the boards do not assume thatyou're innocent.
They assume that you mustrespond, right?

(01:49):
And if you don't, like I said,they're taking action without
your side of the story.
So let's talk about what thislooks like in the real world,
right?
This is a fictional example, butthis is pulled from patterns
that we see every single day.
So let's talk about someonewe'll call her Melissa.
Melissa is a teacher, she's agood one.
She's loved by her students, hercolleagues.

(02:12):
One afternoon, a parentmisunderstood a comment that she
made to a child, and they fileda complaint.
Parents can do that.
Parents can file complaintsagainst teachers.
Melissa, the teacher, notworried.
She didn't do anything wrong.
She knows she didn't do anythingwrong.
She knows that she's innocent.
When they don't find anythingwrong, it's gonna go away.

(02:35):
That's what she's thinking.
So when that board letter came,she did get her letter in the
mail, she set it on the kitchentable.
A week passed, two weeks, lifegets to you, things get busy,
right?
The deadline came and it wentwithout a single response from
Melissa.

(02:55):
Huge problem.
So the board then issued adefault judgment and they
accepted the worst version ofevents.
Melissa never went in to speakher side of the story.
Her license was restricted, herschool district placed her on
leave, and her career and herreputation were damaged before
she even opened her mouth.

(03:16):
And remember that parents, ifyou're a teacher, parents can
look up your license on TEA,SBEC website, on the registry,
and it will say if your licenseis under investigation.

So here's your lesson (03:29):
the board doesn't chase you.
They're not gonna chase afteryou.
Your silence itself is adecision, and it's one that can
hurt the most.
This is a process that you havethe opportunity to be involved
in and to defend yourself in,and so you need to take that
seriously.
So the next one we're gonna getinto rule number four your email

(03:53):
is evidence.
Everything that you write,emails, text messages, DMs,
Snapchats, that can all becomepart of a complaint file.
And deleting that message doesnot delete the metadata that
proves that you sent it.
That's also a huge one.
Deleting it and thinking thatyou can just kind of wipe that

(04:15):
away, that's not going tohappen.
This can get anybody in trouble,right?
Teachers communicating onpersonal phones, dentists
forwarding x-rays throughpersonal emails, nurses that are
charting outside of approvedsystems, realtors texting
contract details insecurely.

(04:36):
I mean, you want to make surethat you have those systems in
place to be able to share thatinformation with your client,
with a third party.
One harmless message can betreated as a breach of
confidentiality orfalsification.
So your communication is part ofyour everyday record.

(04:57):
You need to know the channelsthat you are approved to
communicate in, and more so,what are the overarching rules
and regulations that play intoyour profession and how you are
able to communicate withsomeone?
It's very, very important.
This is one that can be so oftenoverlooked because it seems like

(05:23):
common sense or that youabsolutely know what to do.
But I would encourage you to goback and double check and make
sure that A, the systems thatyour employer has in place are
compliant with the rules andregulations of your profession,
and B, are you securely usingthat system?
Are you using it the way it'sintended to?

(05:45):
And make sure that you are notsharing any sort of confidential
information.
I mean, that can get you in bigtrouble outside of licensing as
well.

Moving on to rule number three: everyone does it, is not a (05:54):
undefined
defense.
Every profession has thoseshortcuts that become normal.
Nurses, I think we all know thatuh digital charting has a lot of
shortcuts in today's age.
These unspoken rules of survivalon a busy day become the norm.

(06:18):
And the board doesn't they don'tadhere to that norm, right?
They don't care what kind ofculture that you guys have got
going on because they're caringabout the rules, they're caring
about upholding this um, youknow, the rules and regulations
that are in place.
So they don't care if everyoneelse is doing it or why you may

(06:42):
have done that.
The fact is they care what youdid.
So let's talk about that for asecond.
Let's think about anotherfictional license holder's not a
real person.
Let's call him Jordan.
Jordan is hardworking, he'srespected, he's overwhelmed by
demanding shifts.
One day, a coworker comes up tohim and says, Hey, I just need

(07:05):
you to co-sign this for me.
I already did the work.
We all do this.
I just need you to sign thisreal quick so we can get on with
it.
Jordan signed.
He didn't even think twice aboutit, right?
He just kind of took hiscoworker's word for it.
Hey, we're really fast.
We need to get this done.
Don't tell me that doesn'thappen in your workplace.

(07:26):
But a month later, not becauseof a complaint, but a routine
audit, investigators found thatJordan's signature was on
procedures that Jordan wasn'tpresent for.
And when he was questioned,Jordan said, everyone does it.
Everyone does it.
Those words ended his career.

(07:47):
The board responded with thewords that do matter.
We're not disciplining everyone.
I'm sure growing up your parentstold you, if so-and-so jumped
off a bridge, would you do ittoo?
If so-and-so signed for aprocedure that they weren't
present for, would you do ittoo?
Would you be willing to put yourlicense on the line for such a

(08:10):
quick shortcut like that?
Because Jordan's license, boom,suspended, job gone, savings
wiped, wiped out.
That one shortcut, that onemoment where culture was over
compliance, it replaced thatcompliance.
India Jordan's career.
So that is why that's how we alldo it, or that's just what we

(08:34):
do.
Um it's dangerous.
It's very dangerous when you area licensed professional and
you're in a setting where youhear, we all do it that way.
That's the way I know you heardit this way, or I know that they
told you to do it this way, butwe don't do it that way, we do
it this way.
Dangerous.

(08:54):
You got to think about is thatsomething I'm really supposed to
do?
Is am I potentially putting mylicense on the line for such a
quick fix in the moment?
Are you?
Okay, moving on to rule numbertwo, which is one we talk about
a lot on Know Your Regulator.
Social media is a minefield, andit's so true.

(09:15):
A post can do a lot of damage,potentially even more than a
workplace event, right?
Something that happens at work.
Not because you wereintentionally doing anything,
but there are thousands ofscenarios, I would say, in which
you could find yourself withsocial media violating a rule.

(09:35):
I mean, you could have some sortof identifying factor in the
back of a picture that revealspatient information.
You could have um, you could beposting something real nasty
about someone and have yourlocation tag on at your
workplace, and now everybodyknows they could put two and two
together, uh a joke that you'rejoking about.

(09:57):
It could be a little bit too faron social media, maybe not to
you, but to someone else, theymay perceive that um as going
too far.
A rant if you're venting onsocial media, uh, if you are
sharing a patient testimonial ora client testimonial without
consent, huge one.

(10:17):
Absolutely huge.
The boards are watching, youremployers are watching, and
there are strangers on theinternet, haters, maybe on the
internet, that are going toreport you.
They're gonna see that, and itcould be that you didn't even do
anything wrong, but someone hassome sort of personal grudge
against you.

(10:38):
You have to be careful aboutwhat you post on the internet as
a licensed professional, just24-7.
Like I said, strangers arealways willing to report.
There are haters who are readyto go get at you.
There are people who are justnot having a good day and want
somewhere or something to takeit out on, and that may be you,

(10:58):
and you don't want to fall preyto anything like that.
Don't even open the door, keepall of that off of social media
and out of your digitalfootprint.
Something very major to rememberif you wouldn't want the board
to see it, don't post it.
Don't post it.
Point blank.

(11:19):
If you wouldn't want the boardto see it, don't put it up on
the internet because they will.
They'll find it.
And here we are at rule numberone.
This one is tough.
Can be a tough bill to swallow,maybe.
Rule number one is you mighthave to report yourself.
Yeah.
You might have to reportyourself.

(11:41):
Many boards requireself-reporting for things that
you don't even realize cantrigger discipline.
Arrests are a huge one.
Many, if not all, boards requirethat you report, you self-report
that arrest, which can be reallyscary and really daunting.
No one wants to come right outand say, I've been arrested for
anything.

(12:01):
And even if you don't agree withthe arrest, even if you don't
agree with the alleged offensethat you may or may not have
committed, you still have todisclose that you were arrested
to the board.
It is not potentially themistake that will get you in
trouble, it's really the failureto disclose it and the fact that

(12:23):
you're trying to hide thingsfrom the board.
They see non-reporting asdishonesty, and that that can
become more serious of an issuethan the actual violation that
you allegedly committed byitself.
And I say allegedly put airquotes, but really, it is

(12:44):
allegedly, right?
You haven't been convicted,you're just reporting the
arrest, which is showing honestywith the board.
If something happens, you've gotto know your reporting
requirements, right?
I said many, if not all, youneed to check with your specific
board to see what are thoserequirements.

(13:05):
If you are arrested, how quicklyare you supposed to report that
to your board?
And you are not going to wantsomeone else, your employer or
somebody else to find that outbefore you are taking charge of
it, right?
Taking responsibility, takingaction, and putting yourself in
the best light to move forward.
And a very easy way that you cando that is to call an attorney.

(13:29):
You don't have to hire that saidattorney, but you need to call
them and consult with them.
Consult with an expert who hasthe knowledge of what this
process is like and what youneed to do to make sure that the
chips aren't stacked up againstyou and that you've got a fair
say in what happens to yourlicense.
So the takeaway here isn't fear.

(13:50):
I don't want you guys to bescared.
I don't want you to leave thisuh this podcast with fear in
your heart and you're a littlebit nervous to walk out into
your profession, your practice.
Most licensed professionals theydon't lose their careers because
of that egregious misconduct,this huge thing.
They lose them because of thesmall decisions that they make
in the rush of everyday life,right?

(14:10):
A, there are systems that theymaybe don't have that protect
you, that keep you withincompliance.
Or B, again, that that cultureover compliance can be so messy
and can be feel it can feel likethat's what's expected of you in
your position.
But small things like a misseddeadline, that convenience

(14:31):
shortcut, a post that you makethat you thought would disappear
but now exists in the metadataforever, a letter that you were
too afraid to open, that youleft sitting on your kitchen
counter for three weeks, and theboard has decided to continue
moving on throughout thisprocess without you.
Those are all things thatabsolutely jeopardize your
license and can put yourlivelihood at serious risk.

(14:55):
You've got to protect yourself.
You've got to know the rulesthat you were never taught.
I know that they're not teachingthese things to you guys in
school.
You guys are focusing on theday-to-day practice of your
profession, but it's just soimportant to know those rules so
you can protect yourself.
And if you've got a board letterin your hand right now, please
do not respond alone.

(15:16):
Okay, there are many, manyattorneys out there or legal
support trade groups that canassist you when you're going
through this type of process,okay?
And we are here, know youregulator.
We know the process, we know thepitfalls, right?
We're here to protect and helpyou gain the knowledge and
resources that you can use to goout and feel compliant in your

(15:40):
practice every single day, okay?
That's all from us today at KnowYou Regulator.
Hope you enjoyed these fivehidden rules.
Maybe have them on your top ofmind awareness for your day to
day practice.
We want you to feel compliantand confident in you going out
and practicing your profession.
That's what we're here for.
We're trying to bridge the gap.
So until next time, stayinspired and stay engaged with

(16:03):
your regulatory agency.
Know your regulator, the podcastthat inspires you to engage.
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