Jan 1 / Jamie Turner, MBA, PMP, BCBA

OBM Ethics Case Study: The Job Offer

Jenny is a newer Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She’s been in the field for about five years, and recently certified as a BCBA. Her organization offered her a BCBA role with a salary of $70,000 for 18 billable hours, with additional pay for additional billable hours. This was presented as a way to start with a smaller caseload to allow time for support and learning as she grows into a full caseload. Jenny was expecting a much higher salary, and started looking elsewhere.

She eventually received an offer from a large ABA organization which sounded incredible:
  • $130,000 annual salary for 30 billable hours per week.
  • Supportive supervisor.
  • $25,000 sign-on bonus.
  • Free CEUs & professional development.
  • 4-5 weeks of time off.
A base salary of $130,000 for 30 billable hours a week was the highest salary Jenny could find. She was billing 32 hours a week as an RBT and thought 30 hours sounded doable. The recruiter convinced her it was easy. Jenny asked for the contract, signed it, gave required notice to her current employer and changed to the large ABA organization as a BCBA.

Then, reality sunk in.

Once Jenny started work at the large ABA organization, the company didn’t have enough cases for her. They were paying her only $50,000 per year as she built a caseload. Jenny waited patiently. Three months in, Jenny had a partial caseload allowing her to bill 19 hours per week but was really struggling with time management. Her supervisor was non-responsive. She attended a few free CEU events which were nice, but that was one of few positives. Six months in, she had a full caseload that should have bumped up her salary to $130,000 per the contract. However, Jenny was only able to bill 21 hours and was working 80 hours a week. It turns out she signed a contract agreeing to drive anywhere in the state the company required, any day of the week, any time of day. Cases were sometimes 2 hours apart in opposite directions from her house, at odd times. Jenny felt it was humanly impossible to bill the required 30 hours with her existing skill set and the assigned caseload.

What is wrong with this case?
  • The large ABA organization wasn’t honest with Jenny when presenting the offer. If the salary wasn’t attainable, they should have disclosed that. The lower starting salary also should have been disclosed. This is similar to the informed consent process with ABA service provision. Instead of informed consent, this organization misled a prospective employee.

  • Jenny wasn’t honest, or maybe not even aware, of her scope of competence. Billing 30 hours a week in home & community settings is difficult even for experienced BCBAs.
Jenny quickly burnt out and tried to resign. Then the large ABA organization let her know she signed a contract that would require her to pay back her $25,000 sign-on bonus, as well as the cost of training her, which amounts to everything Jenny has been paid for the work she’s done to date. She’s stuck. Now Jenny reads the contract and discovers she’s locked-in for 5 years. She can’t imagine staying 5 more weeks, never mind 5 years. She can’t afford to pay back everything she’s earned since starting work there.

Does Jenny have any options?
Jenny should start with a conversation. Talk with the person that offered her the position, and that person’s supervisor if needed. Human Resources is also there to help talk through issues, or leadership. If there’s a way to correct misunderstandings, this is the best path forward.

If that doesn’t work, options are limited:
  • If the contract is completely different than what was presented verbally, maybe there’s a legal case she could make; we aren’t lawyers, and don’t offer legal advice. However, a legal case is expensive, and Jenny may not be able to prove what was said to her verbally and may not be able to pay legal fees while trying to recover $25,000.

  • She can’t report this to insurance or a licensing body that is more focused on clinical quality and compliance.

  • The large ABA organization isn’t run by a BCBA, and assuming the recruiter isn’t a BCBA, there doesn’t seem to be anyone she can report to the BACB.

  • She could report to the Department of Labor for her state and see if they can do anything.

  • The last option is reputation as the go-to consequence. At a minimum, Jenny should write about her experience online for others to learn from. Be factual, not emotional.

As we discussed last month, the business ethics were clearly violated. What the organization should have done to behave more ethically:
  • Be transparent about attainable salary, and the payback conditions.

  • Encourage the BCBA to read the contract and ask questions.

  • Assess the new BCBA during the interview process for scope of competence, and her ability to deliver on the agreed-upon contractual obligations.

What Jenny should have done to behave more ethically:
  • Self-assess scope of competence, and ask questions of other BCBAs to ensure she understands what managing a caseload entails.

  • Don’t agree to a billable hours requirement that she can’t deliver on, or she’s actually in violation of a contractual agreement herself.

  • Engage an experienced colleague, mentor, or friend to review the contract with her before she signs.

Jenny won’t feel good about continuing to work for this organization. I’ve had conversations with BCBAs in similar situations, and found ways to get them out of bad contracts like this and into more ethical organizations. My advice to Jenny would be to research any organization online and through her network before signing anything, regardless of what a savvy recruiter tells her.


This large ABA organization has prioritized profit above all else. It can be difficult for an organization to maintain high ethical standards. If clinical quality is acceptable, there isn’t a lot that can be done from a reporting standpoint and it’s up to BCBAs to report their experience online so others learn from their mistakes. At the same time, BCBAs need to research organizations, read contracts, and be honest about their ability to do what they’re agreeing to in a contract. Some questions to ask recruiters (and get written into contracts):
  • What will the salary be on the first day of employment as I build a caseload?

  • Are medical benefits offered from the first day of employment?

  • How much training do you give employees?

  • Is there a stipend for external training or conference attendance?

  • If applicable: I’m a new BCBA that hasn’t managed a caseload. What kind of support can I expect?

  • If there’s a sign-on bonus, what terms are associated with it?

If a BCBA doesn’t know anyone in their network at an organization they’re considering joining, searching on places like Reddit can reveal a lot.

For ABA practice owners hiring BCBAs, you’ll want to screen for ethical behavior too. Good questions to ask in interviews include:
  • Tell me about a time you couldn’t meet your minimum billable hours. Why did that happen, and what did you do about it?

  • Who is responsible for managing your caseload? What if a family or Behavior Technician have high cancellations, who manages that?

  • Tell me about a time you saw behavior that might have been unethical. How did you approach the situation and what was the outcome?

  • Why did you leave your last employer? What were the circumstances?

ABA practice owners do still need to behave ethically as there are real consequences, even if they haven’t experienced them yet. Practice owners can reach out for support any time. We don’t do paid consulting, and are simply happy to have conversations with like-minded BCBAs trying to improve the field. OBM@acclaimtraining.com

Jamie Turner

MBA, PMP, BCBA