The sanction for missing continuing education (CE) credits for a licensing period in British Columbia continues to be $1,000 per licensing period, after the Insurance Council of British Columbia published a pair of decisions wherein it sanctioned representatives for not meeting their CE obligations – even in one case where the agent’s license was inactive.
In the first decision and order, the insurance council fined Keley Low $3,000, ordered Low to complete the Council Rules Course for life and/or accident and sickness insurance, and ordered Low to pay investigation costs in the amount of $625 – this, despite the fact that Low’s license was inactive during the licensing periods in question.
Specifically, Low is being sanctioned for missing CE credits for the 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 licensing periods. Licensed since September 2016, Low’s license was inactive from November 2017 until February 2022.
Submitted a license renewal
After submitting a license renewal with the mandatory disclosures related to CE left blank, Low was given the opportunity to resubmit the annual practice declaration, at which time she disclosed that she had not met her CE requirements.
All told, Low was short 43 credits for the three licensing periods. Makeup credits reduced this shortage to 15 credits. During this time, she told investigators that she was working part time while recovering from a serious injury. As she was only working part time, she had not written any insurance applications, instead referring the business to her supervisor.
“When asked whether the licensee intended to continue working in the insurance industry, the licensee replied that would depend on the outcome of this discipline process,” the decision states. “The fact the conduct persisted over three license periods demonstrates that it was not an isolated event. Further, council found the licensee’s responses to the committee to be aggravating, as she suggested she would prefer to leave the industry rather than face disciplinary action.”
Insufficient credits for two licensing periods
In a second case, the insurance council similarly fined Ramdyal Singh Sandhu $2,000, ordered investigation costs in the amount of $437.50 after it was determined that he missed obtaining sufficient CE credits for two licensing periods.
Licensed since October 2013, Sandhu was found out after calling the council to inquire about how many CE credits were required, before submitting his annual filing declaration the next day indicating that he’d met the annual requirements. An audit later found that he’d completed excess credits for one licensing period, but none for two others.
In addition to the fine and costs, Sandhu was also ordered to complete the Council Rules Course within 90 days.
