Apartment block on Queen Street East, Toronto. Photo by Can Pac Swire/Flickr.

Sonia is a social worker in Alberta. Her sister Elizabeth is a registered nurse. As licensed professionals they are accountable to standards set by provincial regulatory bodies. If a patient believes Sonia or Elizabeth have done something wrong, they can submit a complaint to the Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW) or the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA). The college would then investigate the complaint and could, under circumstances of gross misconduct, prevent Sonia and Elizabeth from practicing their professions. The details of the investigation would ultimately be made available on the colleges’ websites where malefactors are named and punishments publicly disclosed.

One of Sonia and Elizabeth’s guilty pleasures is to open a bottle of wine and read through the results of these investigations.

“Oof, look at this one! Lorna had her license pulled for sleeping with a client!”

“Oh my god, Jeff got busted for diverting hydromorphone! Again!”

“Jeez, look at this one—who would steal from someone on disability?”

It makes sense for people in these occupations to be held accountable to certain ethical standards. There should be significant consequences for misconduct in care professions. If a social worker or a nurse behaves poorly people under their care could suffer.

But nurses and social workers aren’t the only ones with this heightened level of responsibility. Lots of jobs can cause serious harm if done unethically.

A vocation with some of the greatest potential for harm is landlord. A landlord who withholds a security deposit, lets mold grow in the bathroom, or conducts a contrived eviction can ruin a tenant’s finances and health—they can even press vulnerable people into homelessness. In the most extreme cases,

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