Mother-In-Law 1, Daughter-In-Law 0
Posted By William Plyler on September 1, 2010
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion decided yesterday, affirmed the 2006 firing of a social worker who violated the Wilson County Department of Social Services anti-nepotism policy. The policy prohibited “two members of an immediate family” from working for the agency, and defined “immediate family” to include a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. As a Wilson native with a wife who once worked as a social worker with the WCDSS, I found this case to be interesting, even though unpublished opinions are not binding precedent.
In Woodard v. County of Wilson and WCDSS, (No. 08-2366, decided August 31, 2010), the plaintiff, in 2006, married a young man whose mother, like the plaintiff, worked for the WCDSS. The mother-in-law began working there in 1994. The plaintiff started working there in 2001. As required of all employees, each of them signed the anti-nepotism policy when they were hired. The policy had been in effect since 1985.
The plaintiff contended that the WCDSS anti-nepotism policy violated her right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 19 of the North Carolina Constitution. The Court of Appeals, citing Waters v. Gaston County, 57 F. 3d 422 (4th Cir. 1995), held that (more…)