Woolfolk v. Brown

Citation325 F. Supp. 1162
Decision Date22 April 1971
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 225-70-R.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
PartiesVivian WOOLFOLK et al., v. Otis L. BROWN, etc., et al.

John M. Levy, Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley, Roanoke, Va., Dennis Yeager, Douglas Broadwater, Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Theodore J. Markow, Anthony F. Troy, Asst. Attys. Gen. of Va., Richmond, Va., Harry W. Garrett, Jr., Atty. for the Commonwealth, for Bedford County, Bedford, Va., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

MERHIGE, District Judge.

This is a class action challenging certain regulations and practices of Virginia officials charged with the duty of administering the State's plan of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a public assistance program funded jointly by the federal and state governments. The four named plaintiffs are mothers who at various times received AFDC payments for the support of themselves and their children. These payments were terminated in full pursuant to a provision in the state public assistance plan concerning refusal to accept an offer of employment. Defendants are the Director of the Department of Welfare and Institutions, the Chairman and members of the Board of Welfare and Institutions, the Superintendent of Public Welfare of Bedford County, Virginia, and the Chairman and members of the Local Welfare Board of Bedford County. This is a class action pursuant to Rule 23(b) (2), the named plaintiffs representing parents and their children, eligible for AFDC benefits under Virginia's program and subject to the employment regulation discussed below.

On April 23, 1970, Chief Judge Haynsworth, pursuant to the request of the author of this opinion, designated Circuit Judge Butzner and District Judge Kellam to sit on a three-judge panel in the case. On April 28, 1970, this Judge entered a temporary restraining order requiring the continued provision of assistance to the individual plaintiff, Woolfolk, until the full panel reached its decision.

For reasons which will appear, the panel has decided to remand the statutory issues, including supremacy clause questions, to this Judge sitting alone, with an eye to the possibility that the dispute can be resolved without treating the Constitutional issues. Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. 397, 403, 90 S.Ct. 1207, 25 L.Ed.2d 442 (1970).

The plaintiffs contend that §§ 211.4E and F of the Virginia Manual of Policy and Procedure for Local Welfare Departments are in conflict with the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and with the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-609, 630, et seq. The suit is brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Jurisdiction lies in this Court, regardless of the amount in controversy, under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). Caulder v. Durham Housing Authority, 433 F.2d 998 (4th Cir. 1970).

The regulation in question reads as follows:

E. Evaluation of Employment Opportunities — An applicant for or recipient of assistance is expected to make use of or develop resources available to him in relation to his capacity to do so. If it appears that he has a potential for employment, the extent of services needed from the worker will vary according to the individual's characteristics, training and working experience, as well as his environmental circumstances. The worker needs to be sensitive to the factors affecting the individual's ability to assume a worker role and to be aware of the point at which he may be expected to avail himself of work opportunities.
A work opportunity is considered available to an individual, provided he is deemed able to assume a worker role, if the following conditions are met:
1. Availability of a Specific Job — The availability to the particular individual of a specific job within his competence must be established. The name and address of the prospective employer, the type of work, amount of wages and working hours must be recorded.
2. Physical and Mental Capacity — The individual must be able, physically and mentally, to perform the duties of the job available to him. If there is doubt as to his physical or mental capacity to do the work, an evaluation of his condition is to be secured by the agency from the appropriate source, such as a physician or psychologist.
3. Suitability of the Job—The job must not result in undue hardship, unreasonable changes in living arrangements, neglect of other responsibilities to members of the family, exposure to hazardous conditions, or adverse effect on school progress.
F. Refusal to Accept a Job—Refusal by an otherwise eligible individual sixteen years of age and over to accept a work opportunity available to him under the conditions specified above renders him ineligible for assistance. If such an individual is a husband or parent living in the home, the wife or children are ineligible also.
Income from employment shall be verified, if possible, by written evidence, such as income tax withholding forms or pay envelopes. If wages fluctuate, pay envelopes for a period of several months will be necessary. If the employment is of a seasonable or intermittent nature, it may be possible only to verify by the agency's knowledge of prevailing rates in the community. In this event, the record should reflect this information.1

Evidence has been presented in the form of depositions, exhibits, and answers to interrogatories, and the case has been submitted for decision after argument and briefing.

After hearing, the Court invited the United States to state its views on the issues as amicus curiae. The Government brief and the parties' responses thereto have been received and studied.

The plaintiffs contend that the regulation, which shall be referred to as the Virginia work rule, sets up an unauthorized additional requirement of eligibility for AFDC, contrary to the statutory mandate that state plans provide that "aid * * * shall be furnished with reasonable promptness to all eligible individuals," 42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (10).

They argue additionally that certain 1967 amendments to the Social Security Act incorporating the Work Incentive Program (hereinafter WIN), 42 U.S.C. § 630, et seq., and regulations promulgated thereunder, render the Virginia work rule invalid for the reason that it is either in direct conflict with federal provisions or would frustrate their effective implementation.

The parties have stipulated that the Woolfolk plaintiffs were qualified to receive AFDC benefits during August of 1969, and they were also so qualified at the time of suit but for Vivian Woolfolk's failure to accept an employment opportunity. The Calloway plaintiffs, it is also stipulated, received aid from August, 1969, until April 30, 1970, and were qualified for aid at the time of suit but for the failure of Rosetta, Vera, and Gayle Calloway to accept a job offer. Terminations of aid were made pursuant to the Virginia work rule. It is further stipulated that Bedford County, where the four named plaintiffs reside, participates in the WIN program and that vacancies in the program for that area existed from August 1969 to May 1970.

The scope and effect of the Virginia work rule as applied appeared from the evidence. The rule was promulgated prior to the enactment of the legislation incorporating the WIN program (Brown depos., 4). It was adopted in May, 1967 (defendants' Exhibit 3), in response to the requirement of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare that, in determining a particular individual's need for AFDC payments, only actual income could be taken into consideration as an available resource. See 45 C.F.R. § 203.1(b). Rather than presuming certain unearned income to be available as a resource, it was decided to rule ineligible those who refused suitable, available employment. The new regulation was submitted to and accepted by a family service representative in the Charlottesville, Virginia, regional office, on June 21, 1967 (defendants' Exhibit 4).

The Virginia work rule is not satisfied by part time employment (Brown depos., 39). "Appropriate" day care for children must be afforded (Id., 40). The job itself need only be "appropriate work, and work that is available." (Id., 42). Compensation need only be "commensurate with similar type employment available to the free working person in that community," (Id., 48; see also Armstrong depos., 76).

The sanction of termination of all AFDC payments, to parent and child alike, is imposed because it is thought to be a greater motivator to secure employment than a lesser deduction (Armstrong depos., 71). No particular information forms are used in the termination process (Id., 61). A detailed investigation of working conditions, beyond wages and hours, is not made (Id.). Although the rule admonishes welfare officials to cancel benefits only after consultation, no specific period of counseling is required (Id., 74).

The eligibility technician in charge of Vivian Woolfolk's case testified that she presented the case to the local welfare board for termination after Miss Woolfolk had failed on the appointed day to appear for employment for reasons which "didn't seem too valid." (Carson depos., 77). On Sunday, September 14, 1970, Miss Woolfolk's work was to commence. On Thursday, the 18th, she appeared at the welfare office and explained that she had had a sore throat on Sunday. No inquiry was made to determine whether the job offer was still open on Thursday. Nor was Miss Woolfolk informed that a cutoff of her benefits was being considered at that visit or at a subsequent one later on Thursday, when she reported with a doctor's certificate stating that she could work the next day. (Id., 77-79). On Friday, September 19th, her case was closed by the welfare board, thereby terminating benefits to her and her child.

The Superintendent of the Bedford County Welfare Department was chiefly responsible for offering Miss Woolfolk an employment opportunity (Goode depos., 7). The job...

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  • Aguayo v. Richardson
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • January 18, 1973
    ...(Jan. 16, 1973); see also Jeffries v. Sugarman (S.D.N.Y. 1972), an appeal from which is now pending before this court; Woolfolk v. Brown, 325 F.Supp. 1162 (E.D.Va.1971), aff'd 456 F.2d 652 (4 Cir. 1972). If the Supreme Court should reverse or seriously restrict the holding in Dublino, appel......
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    ...funds to a state without such a program. King v. Smith, supra; Carroll v. Finch, 326 F.Supp. 891 (D.Alaska 1971); Woolfolk v. Brown, 325 F.Supp. 1162, 1170-1171 (E.D.Va. 1971); Cooper v. Laupheimer, 316 F. Supp. 264, 268 (E.D.Pa.1970). Nor is a state required to have an AFDC-E program. Henr......
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    ...Linnane v. Betit, 331 F.Supp. 868 (D.Vermont 1971); Saddler v. Winstead, 327 F.Supp. 568 (N.D.Miss.1971); Woolfolk v. Brown, 325 F.Supp. 1162 (E.D.Va. 1971); Doe v. Hursh, 337 F.Supp. 614, 616 (D.Minn.1970). To this court there is no reason for the single judge to first send the non-constit......
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