Dozier v. WILLIAMS COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICE BD., 990159.
| Decision Date | 22 December 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 990159.,990159. |
| Citation | 603 N.W.2d 493,1999 ND 240 |
| Parties | Renae DOZIER, Petitioner and Appellant, v. WILLIAMS COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICE BOARD and North Dakota Department of Human Services, Respondents and Appellees. |
| Court | North Dakota Supreme Court |
Richard R. LeMay, Legal Assistance of North Dakota, Minot, N.D., for petitioner and appellant.
Jean R. Mullen, Assistant Attorney General, Bismarck, N.D., for respondents and appellees.
[¶ 1] Renae Dozier appealed from a judgment affirming an order of the Department of Human Services reducing her public assistance benefits because she failed to comply with work requirements. We conclude the Department's findings are supported by a preponderance of the evidence and those findings support imposition of the sanction. We affirm the judgment.
[¶ 2] Dozier is a 36-year-old single mother of six children, ages 6 to 15. She has received public assistance benefits for more than ten years. While living in Ward County, Dozier was receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC") benefits. To receive AFDC benefits, Dozier was required to participate in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills ("JOBS") program, designed to "place participants in nonsubsidized employment as soon as possible." N.D. Admin. Code § 75-02-01.2-83. However, in June 1997, Dozier received a six-month medical exemption from participation in the JOBS program because she was being treated for depression and anxiety. Dozier moved from Ward County to Williams County in August 1997 to attend school at the University of North Dakota ("UND")-Williston in the Licensed Practical Nurse ("LPN") program.
[¶ 4] In North Dakota, TANF is administered through the Training, Education, Employment, and Management ("TEEM") program. See N.D.C.C. § 50-09-26. The Department adopted rules for its administration, which became effective July 1, 1997. See N.D. Admin. Code ch. 75-02-01.2. North Dakota has retained participation in the JOBS program as a condition for receipt of TEEM benefits. See N.D. Admin. Code §§ 75-02-01.2-82 through 75-02-01.2-103.
[¶ 5] Ward County Social Services advised Dozier to contact the Williams County JOBS coordinator when she moved to Williams County, but Dozier did not do so. On September 15, 1997, Dozier met with her Williams County eligibility worker, who questioned the continued validity of her medical exemption from the JOBS program because Dozier was attending college on a full-time basis. Dozier was asked to sign a waiver of confidentiality so social services workers could contact her psychiatrist to determine whether the medical reason given for her unfitness to participate in the JOBS program still existed, but Dozier refused to sign the release. Dozier chose, instead, to not continue the medical exemption. She also refused to participate in the JOBS program. Dozier was sanctioned for her refusal to participate. Dozier did not appeal from the sanction.
[¶ 6] On November 18, 1997, Dozier's TANF file was officially converted to the TEEM program. As a person under a sanction, Dozier was given a new opportunity to participate in the program and receive full benefits under TEEM, if she complied with the JOBS component of the program. Dozier was again referred to the JOBS program. She did not seek a medical exemption, but met with the JOBS coordinator in early January 1998 to complete a job assessment for an employability plan. Dozier indicated she would "try to combine nonapproved school with work experience" and her goal was to complete schooling to become an LPN, but no specific employment goal was identified in the employability plan.
[¶ 7] During the period relevant to this case, JOBS program participants were required to be engaged in an allowed work activity 20 hours per week. See N.D. Admin. Code §§ 75-02-01.2-82(2) and 75-02-01.2-84(1). Because Dozier was attending school for LPN training, the JOBS coordinator allowed Dozier to combine her education with the work requirements. Vocational training can satisfy the work requirements, see N.D. Admin. Code § 75-02-01.2-85(g), so the JOBS coordinator thought nurse's training was a viable option. The JOBS coordinator explained to Dozier the vocational education approval requirements, which included submission of a request, along with pertinent information about the training program and test results completed by the participant. See N.D. Admin. Code § 75-02-01.2-96. Dozier, however, did not provide the required information, and her request was not considered.
[¶ 8] Later in January 1998, Dozier again met with the JOBS coordinator to further define her JOBS employability plan. At that meeting, the JOBS coordinator decided to allow Dozier to satisfy her work experience by being employed as a peer assistant for 20 hours per week at UND-Williston from January 26, 1998, through June 30, 1998. The peer assistant position would allow Dozier to combine her work requirements under the JOBS program with her schooling so she could continue her LPN education. Dozier signed the employability plan, agreeing to abide by its terms.
[¶ 9] By the end of February 1998, Dozier quit her employment as a peer assistant. On March 10, 1998, the JOBS coordinator notified Dozier to appear at a conciliation meeting on March 19, 1998, to show good cause for her noncompliance with the JOBS program. At the meeting, Dozier told the JOBS coordinator she would not continue with the peer assistant position, because she was a full-time student with six children and did not have time to work. Dozier met later that day with her eligibility worker, who was also designated Dozier's TEEM case manager, and Dozier again refused to comply with the JOBS program work requirements. The case manager also discussed with Dozier the status of her TEEM contract, which must be completed and signed by the participant by the end of the fourth benefit month to remain eligible for any benefits. See N.D. Admin. Code § 75-02-01.2-76(1). Dozier signed the TEEM contract during the meeting with her case manager.
[¶ 10] On March 20, 1998, Dozier was issued an advance notice of sanction, giving her until March 31, 1998, to show good cause for her refusal to participate in the JOBS program. Dozier offered no other reasons for her refusal to comply. The sanction at issue in this case was then imposed effective April 1, 1998, reducing Dozier's monthly TEEM benefit about $200 per month for a two-month period ending May 31, 1998, if she chose to cooperate.
[¶ 11] Dozier appealed her sanction, and an administrative law judge ("ALJ") was appointed to hold an evidentiary hearing. The ALJ issued recommended findings and a recommended order upholding the sanction imposed on Dozier for her refusal to comply with the JOBS program work requirements and her failure to show good cause for her refusal to participate. The Department adopted the ALJ's recommended findings and order, and Dozier appealed to district court. The court affirmed the Department's decision.
[¶ 12] The district court had jurisdiction under N.D. Const. art. VI, § 8, and N.D.C.C. § 28-32-15(3). Dozier's appeal to this Court was timely filed under N.D.C.C. § 28-32-21 and N.D.R.App.P. 4(a). This Court has jurisdiction under N.D. Const. art. VI, § 6, and N.D.C.C. § 28-32-21.
[¶ 13] When a Department decision is appealed to district court and then to this Court, we review the Department's decision, not the district court's ruling. Prairieview Nursing Home v. North Dakota Dept. of Human Services, 1999 ND 142, ¶ 7, 598 N.W.2d 116. Under N.D.C.C. §§ 28-32-19 and 28-32-21, we determine whether the Department's findings of fact are supported by a preponderance of the evidence, whether its conclusions of law are supported by its findings of fact, and whether its decision is in accordance with the law. Steen v. North Dakota Dept. of Human Services, 1997 ND 52, ¶ 8, 562 N.W.2d 83. In determining whether the Department's findings of fact are supported by a preponderance of the evidence, we do not make independent findings of fact or substitute our judgment for that of the Department, but determine whether a reasoning mind could have reasonably determined the factual conclusions were supported by the weight of the evidence. Walton v. North Dakota Dept. of Human Services, 552 N.W.2d 336, 338 (N.D.1996). The Department's decisions on questions of law are fully reviewable by this Court. Wahl v. Morton Co. Social Services, 1998 ND 48, ¶ 4, 574 N.W.2d 859.
[¶ 14] Dozier contends her eligibility worker and TEEM case...
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