New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 13 - LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY
Chapter 34 - BOARD OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY EXAMINERS
Subchapter 6 - GENERAL OBLIGATIONS OF A LICENSEE
Section 13:34-6.4 - Sexual misconduct and harassment
Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) By this section, the Board is identifying for its licensees conduct which it shall deem to be violative of law as set forth in (j) below.
(b) As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise:
(c) A licensee shall not seek, solicit or engage in sexual contact with a client with whom he or she has a current client-therapist relationship.
(d) A licensee shall not seek, solicit or engage in sexual contact with a current client's immediate family member, a former client, a former client's immediate family member or a former student when marriage and family therapy services were rendered to the client, former client or former student in the immediately preceding 24 months, or with a current student, supervisee, supervisor or research participant.
(e) A licensee shall not seek or solicit sexual contact with any person in exchange for professional services.
(f) A licensee shall not accept as a client an individual who, within the immediately preceding 24 months, was the licensee's sexual partner.
(g) A licensee shall not engage in any discussion of an intimate sexual nature with a client that serves the licensee's prurient interests or is for the sexual arousal or the sexual gratification of the licensee or client, or constitutes sexual abuse of the client. Such discussion shall not include disclosure by the licensee of his or her own intimate sexual relationships.
(h) A licensee shall not condone or engage in any form of harassment in a professional setting including, but not limited to, an office, hospital or health care facility or outside the professional setting.
(i) A licensee shall not engage in any other activity (such as, but not limited to, voyeurism or exposure of the genitalia of the licensee) which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the activity serves the licensee's personal prurient interests or is for the sexual arousal or the sexual gratification of the licensee or client, or constitutes sexual abuse of the client.
(j) Violation of any of the prohibitions or directives set forth at (c) through (h) above shall be deemed to constitute malpractice pursuant to 45:1-21(c) or (d) or professional misconduct pursuant to 45:1-21(e).
(k) It shall not be a defense to any action under this section that: