Howard v. Department of Social Welfare

• Decision Date: 30 December 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-342,93-342
• Citation: 163 Vt. 109,655 A.2d 1102
• Parties: , 98 Ed. Law Rep. 860, 5 A.D. Cases 1548, 10 A.D.D. 434, 6 NDLR P 85 Elaine HOWARD, Clara Parker and Carolyn Clark v. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Cornelius Hogan, Secretary.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Page 1102

655 A.2d 1102

163 Vt. 109, 98 Ed. Law Rep. 860, 5

A.D. Cases 1548,

10 A.D.D. 434, 6 NDLR P 85

Elaine HOWARD, Clara Parker and Carolyn Clark v. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Cornelius Hogan, Secretary.

No. 93-342.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

Dec. 30, 1994.

James C. May, South Royalton Legal Clinic, and Ian C. Ridlon, Robert C. Brannan, Cynthia E. Frantz, Ronald G. McMullen and Jacob B. Perkinson, Legal Interns, South Royalton, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Atty. Gen., Montpelier, Christina M. Byrom, Asst. Atty. Gen., and George Collias, Legal Intern, Waterbury, for defendant-appellee.

Steven S. Zaleznick, Patricia A. DeMichele and Bruce Vignery, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae American Ass'n of Retired Persons.

Marilyn Mahusky-Anderson, Rutland, and Judith F. Dickson, Burlington, Developmental Disabilities Law Project, for amicus curiae Vt. Protection and Advocacy, Inc.

Before ALLEN, C.J., and GIBSON, MORSE and JOHNSON, JJ., and PECK, J. (Ret.), Specially Assigned.

GIBSON, Justice.

Plaintiffs Elaine Howard, Clara Parker and Carolyn Clark appeal from a decision of the Secretary of the Agency of Human Services (Secretary), reversing a decision of the Human Services Board (Board) and terminating plaintiffs' Aid to Needy Families with Children (ANFC) benefits when their children reached age eighteen because the children were not expected to graduate from high school by age nineteen. Plaintiffs claim that it is solely due to the children's disabilities that they could not graduate by age nineteen, and thus, terminating ANFC benefits on this basis violates (1) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, (2) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12132, and (3) the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. We reverse the decision of the Secretary and reinstate the order of the Board, granting plaintiffs ANFC benefits until their children reach age nineteen.

Plaintiffs are three mothers who were recipients of ANFC benefits. When these causes arose, each mother had a child who was attending school full-time and doing well. All the children were expected to graduate from high school at either age nineteen or age twenty. Each child has repeated at least one year of early elementary school because of a disability. The three children have been diagnosed with specific learning disabilities, and two of the children also have hearing impairments. All three have received special education services. See 3 Code of Vermont Rules, Department of Education § 2362(1)(a) (1992) (to be eligible for special education, student must have disability). The Department of Social Welfare (DSW) does not dispute that, as a result of these disabilities, these children could not graduate before turning age nineteen.

Prior to the eighteenth birthday of each child, the parent received notice from DSW that her benefits were to be terminated after the eighteenth birthday of her child. ANFC regulations provide:

An individual qualifies under the age criterion as a child if he or she is under 18. In addition, an 18 year old child is eligible if he or she is a full-time student in a secondary school or an equivalent level of vocational/technical training and is expected to complete high school or the equivalent program before reaching his or her nineteenth birthday.

5 Code of Vermont Rules, Welfare Assistance Manual (WAM) § 2301 (1994). Although DSW provides ANFC benefits for needy children age eighteen who are full-time students, it does so only for those children expected to graduate during that year. Because the children in this case did not meet this test, they did not meet the ANFC eligibility requirement for needy, eighteen-year-old students.

Plaintiffs appealed the decision of DSW to the Human Services Board, which concluded that plaintiffs' children did not meet the WAM § 2301 graduate-by-age-nineteen requirement solely because of their disabilities. Further, it held that denying ANFC benefits to the parents of these students, on the basis of disability, denied them the opportunity to participate in the ANFC program to the same extent as other parents of needy, eighteen-year-old students. To comply with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Board decided that DSW was required to make reasonable modifications to the ANFC program to prevent discrimination on the basis of disability. Thus, it held that where the failure to meet the graduation requirement results solely from the child's disability, the ANFC recipient is entitled to receive benefits until the child attains age nineteen. Accordingly, the Board directed DSW to pay plaintiffs ANFC benefits until these children reached age nineteen.

The Secretary of Human Services accepted the findings of the Board but reversed its decision under the authority granted by 3 V.S.A. § 3091(h)(1). The Secretary determined that the Rehabilitation Act would be the applicable statute because it prohibits discrimination in state agencies that receive federal financial assistance. He noted, however, that the graduation requirement in WAM § 2301 mirrors the eligibility requirement of the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) statute, see 42 U.S.C. § 606(a)(2), that AFDC is a federal-state matching fund program, and that participating states must comply with federal statutes and regulations to receive federal funding. Consequently, the Secretary concluded that DSW was required to impose the graduation requirement. This appeal followed. I.

First, we address the jurisdictional issues raised by the parties. DSW argues that the Human Services Board exceeded its authority by holding that the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA conflict with federal AFDC eligibility criteria. According to DSW, the Board does not have authority to determine which federal law to apply in the event of such a conflict. We do not decide this issue because we do not accept DSW's characterization of the Board's decision. The Board did not conclude that the federal laws at issue conflicted, nor did it hold either law invalid. The Board determined that applying the graduation requirement in WAM § 2301 to plaintiffs' children violated both the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. It concluded, however, that reasonable modifications to the requirement could be made to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability and ordered such modifications to be made. We view this action as applying both AFDC and federal disability law. The Board modified a decision of DSW that was in conflict with federal disability law, action the Board is explicitly authorized to do. See 3 V.S.A. § 3091(d) (Board has authority to reverse or modify agency decisions based on rules that Board determines to be in conflict with state or federal law); see also Stevens v. Department of Social Welfare, 159 Vt. 408, 417, 620 A.2d 737, 742 (1992) (Legislature intended Board to hear any case in which individual is aggrieved by DSW action or policy).

Plaintiffs argue that the Secretary erred as a matter of law in reversing the Board because he failed to comply with 3 V.S.A. § 3091(h)(1), which requires the Secretary to "issue a written decision setting forth the legal, factual or policy basis for reversing or modifying a board decision or order." Plaintiffs maintain that the Secretary's decision was incomplete because he did not address plaintiffs' claims under the ADA or the equal protection clause; he addressed only the claims under the Rehabilitation Act. Generally, we would remand a case to allow the Secretary to consider issues that he has failed to address. See 2 C. Koch, Administrative Law and Practice § 9.13C, at 152 (Supp.1995) (court must remand if agency rationale inadequate); Beno v. Shalala, 30 F.3d 1057, 1074-75 (9th Cir.1994) (remanding to Secretary of Health and Human Services because court should not infer agency had considered issues unless record so indicates). An agency decision should provide a reasonable explanation of its conclusion on each claim before it to provide an adequate record for review, to preclude perfunctory decision-making, and to satisfy interested members of the public. See 1 C. Koch, supra, § 6.55, at 276.

Although the Secretary's decision is not a model of clarity, we construe it as concluding that neither the ADA nor the Rehabilitation Act apply to DSW. See 2 C. Koch, supra, § 9.13C, at 151 (court should try to make sense of explanation of less than ideal clarity). He states that "[t]he Rehabilitation Act is the legislation that would apply to the Department," but then concludes that the AFDC eligibility requirements adopted in 1981 are what ultimately govern. In the interest of judicial economy, we do not remand for a decision of plaintiffs' claim under the Equal Protection Clause because we reverse the Secretary's decisions under the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, and therefore, do not reach the equal protection issue.

II.

Plaintiffs bring this suit under both § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA. Initially, we note that Title II of the ADA provides persons with disabilities the same rights and remedies as those provided by § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 42 U.S.C. § 12133; Coleman v. Zatechka, 824 F.Supp. 1360, 1367 (D.Neb.1993). The Rehabilitation Act applies only to programs that receive federal financial assistance, however, while the ADA applies to all public entities. See 29 U.S.C. § 794(b); 42 U.S.C. § 12132. In the instant case, both statutes apply. DSW is subject to the Rehabilitation Act because it receives federal financial assistance, and it is subject to the ADA because it is a public entity. See 42 U.S.C. § 12131(1) ("public entity" means any state government and any department or agency of state government).

We analyze plaintiffs' claims under the ADA because the ADA is the most recent enactment of Congressional intent...