Dane R. Hayward v. Curtis L. Henderson

This is an appeal from an order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellees on the appellant’s claim that, as an employee of a CETA-funded program, 29 U.S.C. §§ 801-992 (Comprehensive Employment & Training Act of 1973), he enjoyed a “property” interest in being afforded notice and the opportunity to be heard before being discharged. See 29 C.F.R. § 98.26 (1976).

Recent cases are uniform in their rejection of the contention that the CETA requirement of notice and an opportunity to be heard, 29 C.F.R. § 98.26 , gives rise to a constitutionally protected “property” interest. Gooley v. Conway, 590 F.2d 744, 746 (8th Cir. 1979), aff’g, 452 F.Supp. 399 (E.D.Mo. 1978); Hark v. Dragon, 611 F.2d 11 (2nd Cir. 1979), aff’g, 477 F.Supp. 308 (D.Vt.); Maloney v. Sheehan, 453 F.Supp. 1131, 1141 (D.Conn. 1978). The reasoning underlying these decisions is sound and is adopted by this Court:

Maloney v. Sheehan, 453 F.Supp. at 1141 . To confer on CETA participants an ongoing right to continued CETA employment would be fundamentally at odds with the overall scheme of the Act, which looks to the training of unemployed individuals with an eye towards their eventual assimilation into…