Questions on the ASWB exam often test how well you can navigate professional tensions—not just with clients, but with coworkers. Section 2.04 of the NASW Code of Ethics outlines how social workers should behave when workplace conflict arises. The focus: stay ethical, avoid self-interest, and never involve clients in professional disputes.

Here’s the full standard:

2.04 Disputes Involving Colleagues
(a) Social workers should not take advantage of a dispute between a colleague and an employer to obtain a position or otherwise advance the social workers’ own interests.

(b) Social workers should not exploit clients in disputes with colleagues or engage clients in any inappropriate discussion of conflicts between social workers and their colleagues.

What It Means in Practice

Workplace conflict is unavoidable—but unethical responses are not. This section makes clear that disputes must never become opportunities for manipulation, self-promotion, or client involvement.

Key Guidelines

(a) No opportunism during disputes

  • Don’t try to take a colleague’s job or gain favor during their conflict with a supervisor or agency

  • Avoid gossiping, undermining, or aligning with management to advance yourself

  • Stay professional, neutral, and client-focused

(b) Keep clients out of it

  • Never vent about a colleague to a client

  • Don’t encourage clients to switch providers due to staff disagreements

  • Avoid making a client feel like they must “choose sides”

This standard is about protecting client boundaries and maintaining workplace integrity—even when things get tense.

Practice Question

Here’s a scenario reflecting how this code might appear on the licensing exam:

A social worker learns that a colleague is in conflict with the agency director and may be leaving their position soon. The social worker tells a client, “If I were you, I’d switch to working with me. She might be gone anyway.” What ethical issue is raised here?

A. The social worker is supporting the client by helping them anticipate change

B. The social worker is appropriately offering continuity of care

C. The social worker is exploiting the dispute to advance their own interests

D. The social worker is required to inform clients of internal staffing decisions

This kind of comment is self-serving and undermines the colleague’s role. It violates both clauses of 2.04 by attempting to gain an advantage and involving the client in the dispute. How to narrow it down: A misrepresents the social worker’s motive. B frames opportunism as helpfulness. D falsely assumes a duty to disclose internal conflict. The correct answer is C.

Want to build your confidence with trickier ethics scenarios and everything else on the exam? SWTP’s full-length practice exams help you get comfortable with questions just like this—so you can walk into the ASWB exam ready.

Try a practice test now.




June 9, 2025
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  ethics  
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