A New Jersey licensed marriage counselor who had been previously disciplined for engaging in the unlicensed practice of professional counseling, lost her bid to vacate the disciplinary consent order because its appearance on the State’s website “has interfered with her ability to gain employment.”

In a June 12, 2015 opinion (on-line here), the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court rejected Sharlene Margulis Harris’ argument that the Professional Counselor Examiners Committee’s decision to put her disciplinary consent order on the internet “undercuts her credentials” and “no longer serve the public interest.”  The Appellate panel held that “accessibility of the consent order via the internet is consistent with public policy as declared in the Open Public Records Act.”

Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. Please send all comments to [email protected]