Gifts, meals and favours
Why a small thank-you is a bigger problem than it looks
- RBT
- BCaBA
- BCBA
What the obligation is
Both codes place limits on giving and receiving gifts with the people you serve, and the technician outline makes adhering to those limits its own task. The reason is not that generosity is suspect; it is that a gift changes a relationship. It creates an obligation running in the wrong direction, it can be a step toward a multiple relationship, and where an organisation bills for services it can look like an inducement. A token of nominal value in a cultural context where refusing would itself be an insult is treated differently from cash, expensive items, or repeated giving. Your employer will usually have a specific policy, and it can be stricter than the code.
In plain language
Gifts change a working relationship, even small ones. Know your employer's rule before it happens, decline warmly, and tell your supervisor what was offered.
What this looks like
- Knowing your organisation's gift rule before a birthday or a holiday arrives.
- Thanking a family warmly and explaining that professional rules limit what you can accept.
- Declining private paid work outside the agency's arrangement.
- Telling your supervisor about anything offered, including what you declined.
Where people get caught
- Accepting "just this once", which sets an expectation for next time.
- Accepting something and deciding afterwards whether it was allowed.
- Treating a shared meal, a lift, or childcare as different in kind from a wrapped present.
- Giving gifts to families, which raises the same problem in reverse.
If you are not sure
Do not accept it in the moment; say you will check your organisation's policy and come back to them. Then ask your supervisor. A short delay is far easier than returning something later.
In the codes
- RBT Ethics Code (2.0) Section 1 — How you conduct yourself
- 1.10 Avoid mixing roles with clients, coworkers and supervisors
- 1.11 Keep gifts small, occasional and one-off
- Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts Section 1 — Your conduct as a professional
- 1.11 Avoid multiple relationships, and manage the ones you cannot avoid
- 1.12 Keep gifts under ten dollars, and say so up front
On the exam
Terms used here
Situations where this comes up
Related topics
Written from
- bacb-rbt-ethics-code-2 — Gifts
- bacb-ethics-code-2022 — Gifts and multiple relationships
- bacb-rbt-tco-3 — Task F.8
Written from both codes' standards on gifts and the RBT outline's ethics task, in our own words.
This entry has not yet been through independent review. Treat it as a draft, and read the official code for anything that matters.