443.11 Disciplinary proceedings against architects, landscape architects and engineers.
(1) The appropriate section of the examining board may reprimand an architect, landscape architect, or professional engineer or limit, suspend, or revoke the certificate of registration of any registrant, and the certificate of record of any engineer-in-training, who is found guilty of:
(a) Fraud or deceit in obtaining a certificate of registration or a certificate of record.
(b) Signing or impressing his or her seal or stamp upon documents not prepared by him or her or under his or her control or knowingly permitting his or her seal or stamp to be used by any other person.
(c) Knowingly aiding or abetting the unauthorized practice of architecture or professional engineering by persons not registered under this chapter.
(d) Any gross negligence, incompetency or misconduct in the practice of architecture as a registered architect, of landscape architecture as a registered landscape architect or of professional engineering as a registered professional engineer, or in the professional activity of a holder of a certificate of record as engineer-in-training.
(e) Any violation of the rules of professional conduct adopted and promulgated by that section of the examining board.
(f) Conviction of a felony, subject to ss. 111.321, 111.322 and 111.335, or adjudication of mental incompetency by a court of competent jurisdiction, a certified copy of the record of conviction or adjudication of incompetency to be conclusive evidence of such conviction or incompetency.
(2) The appropriate section of the examining board may reprimand a firm, partnership, or corporation holding a certificate of authorization issued under this chapter or may limit, suspend, or revoke such a certificate if any of the agents, employees, or officers of the firm, partnership, or corporation has committed any act or has been guilty of any conduct which would authorize a reprimand or a limitation, suspension, or revocation of the certificate of registration of a registrant or the certificate of record of an engineer-in-training under this chapter, unless the firm, partnership, or corporation submits evidence satisfactory to the appropriate section of the examining board that the agent, employee, or officer is not now practicing or offering to practice architecture, landscape architecture, or professional engineering in its behalf.
(3) Any person may make charges that any registrant, holder of a certificate of record as engineer-in-training or corporate holder of a certificate of authorization has committed an act for which a reprimand or limitation, suspension, or revocation of registration is authorized under sub. (1). Such charges shall be in writing, shall be sworn to by the person making them and shall be submitted to the appropriate section of the examining board. The appropriate section of the examining board may, on its own motion, make such charges. All charges, unless dismissed by the appropriate section of the examining board as unfounded or trivial, shall be heard by the appropriate section of the examining board, subject to the rules promulgated under s. 440.03 (1).
(4) If after a hearing under sub. (3), 3 members of a section of the examining board vote in favor of sustaining charges specified in sub. (3), the appropriate section of the examining board shall reprimand or limit, suspend, or revoke the certificate of registration of the registered architect, registered landscape architect, or registered professional engineer, the certificate of record of the holder of a certificate as engineer-in-training, or the certificate of authorization of a firm, partnership, or corporation.
(5) The actions of each section of the examining board under this section shall be subject to review in the manner provided in ch. 227.
(6) The appropriate section of the examining board, for reasons it considers sufficient, may reissue a certificate of registration or a certificate of record to any person, or a certificate of authorization to any firm, partnership, or corporation, whose certificate has been revoked under this section if 3 members of the section of the examining board vote in favor of such reissuance. Subject to the rules of the examining board, the appropriate section of the examining board may, upon payment of the required fee, issue a new certificate of registration, certificate of record or certificate of authorization, to replace any certificate that is revoked, lost, destroyed or mutilated.
History: 1979 c. 167; 1981 c. 334 s. 25 (1); 1993 a. 463, 465, 491; 1997 a. 237, 300; 1999 a. 32, 186; 2009 a. 123; 2011 a. 146.
Gross negligence, incompetency, or misconduct is discussed. The failure of an engineer to properly design a roof truss would not show incompetence, but the board might find gross negligence. Vivian v. Examining Board of Architects, 61 Wis. 2d 627, 213 N.W.2d 359 (1974).