• Worker fired in 2005 for not taking a case in which she was involved to her supervisor.

By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

A wrongful termination complaint filed against the Columbus County Department of Social Services and set to be heard Tuesday in Brunswick County has been continued. No new date has been set.

Cheryl Best, a child support worker, filed a complaint in November 2006 alleging she was wrongfully terminated from her position.

Her attorney, K. Rob Davis, said Friday that he did not wish to comment on the case as negotiations are likely in the works.

“The attorney for DSS and myself have agreed that we will try to settle this matter,” Davis said. He pointed out the two parties had agreed to the continuance last Thursday.

The continuance comes just days after several county officials and at least three commissioners told The News Reporter they were unaware that a claim had been filed. (See related story.)

Best was fired in April 2005 for not following policy and procedure in opening a child support file that involved herself and was accused of fraud.

Best directed two other child support employees to open a child support file naming her as the petitioner to receive child support payments for a child she had taken into her home, according to documents filed with the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) and Best’s termination letter dated March 21, 2005.

Best claims she never received any funds to which she was not legally entitled to and her termination was too harsh a punishment for her actions. She claims that proper procedures were not followed in her termination and subsequent appeal to the county.

First, through attorney Michael McGuinness, Best attempted to negotiate to get her job back in 2005.

“We would like to respectfully propose an amicable resolution of this matter which would substantially benefit both of our clients,” McGuiness wrote in a Nov. 21, 2005 letter to former DSS attorney James Caviness. DSS denied her reinstatement, according to a motion for continuance filed on Jan. 16 of this year.

The OAH has not fulfilled Columbus County’s request to dismiss the wrongful termination complaint and a request for a change of venue to Columbus County.

Best requested a continuance in March of this year.

It was granted despite Martin’s objection that Best’s motion for continuance did not give a reason the continuance should be granted.

Records from May 2007 show that Best is now represented by K. Rob Davis, an Elizabethtown attorney.

Best violated written policies that the case go to a supervisor and as a result was paid child support that “was to be paid to the state as reimbursement for TANF benefits” paid to the biological mother of the child, Assistant County Attorney Terri Martin explains in a pre-hearing statement to the OAH.

Under the agency’s written policies, if an employee wants to apply for assistance for herself, a dependent or children, the employee is to contact the supervisor of the program who will be responsible for taking the case, processing it, and the on-going maintenance, Martin asserts.

However, Best claims in a petition for a contested case hearing that was filed with the OAH that “the action of dismissal was not warranted” and that she was entitled to child support payments she received for a child that was living with her.
In her pre-hearing statement Best states that she “offered to give back the checks” if she was in fact not entitled to them but former Director Marva Scott “refused to take them.”

Best also claims that “no recoupment was issued to recover funds” until she “made it clear” in her first pre-hearing statement.

Best points out that she has received additional checks and did not misuse agency funds.

She alleges social services acted erroneously, failed to use proper procedure, acted arbitrarily and failed to act as required by law in her petition.

“I feel that I have been wronged and that I should have received some type of disciplinary action for not following policy and procedure in opening a file in the office but certainly not dismissal.

Also, the respondent (DSS) stated that I received two checks that I was not entitled to; however, since my dismissal is based on the same case, I have received approximately 15 additional checks,” Best wrote in her petition filed and served upon former DSS Director Marva Scott on Nov. 27, 2006.

An April 30, 2005 letter to Best from interim social services director Larry Moore states that the social services board refused to hear Best’s appeal at the local level.

“As a result of you receiving no response from the director, Mrs. Marva Scott and as a result of the refusal of the Columbus County Board of Social Services on April 26, 2005 to hear your appeal or to review your case, I must concur with the board’s direction to you to appeal directly to the Office of State Personnel,” Moore wrote.

The case was scheduled to be heard on Oct. 23 in Brunswick County.

A long list of proposed witnesses for both the county DSS and Best include nine DSS employees, former DSS director Marva Scott, former DSS attorney James R. Caviness, former county manager Billy Joe Farmer, and county commissioners Bill Memory and Amon McKenzie.