Doyle v. Department Of Industrial Accidents9/7/2000
rest in a benefit, a person clearly must have more than an abstract need or desire for it. He must have more than a unilateral expectation of it. He must, instead, have a legitimate claim of entitlement to it." Allen v. Assessors of Granby, 387 Mass. at 120, quoting from Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, supra at 577. Generally, an individual has a property interest in a benefit when the relevant law establishes certain eligibility criteria which, if met, entitle an individual to the benefit. See Madera v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Communities & Dev., 418 Mass. at 459. However, if the relevant law provides the awarding agency or other entity discretion to decide whether to grant benefits to a potential recipient, such discretion negates any entitlement claim which the potential recipient may have had. See School Comm. of Hatfield v. Board of Educ., 372 Mass. at 516; Allen v. Assessors of Granby, supra at 121; Madera v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Communities & Dev., supra at 459. Accordingly, Doyle's entitlement claim depends upon an analysis of G. L. c. 152, Sect. 30H, to determine whether it provides the DIA discretion to grant or deny vocational rehabilitation benefits to potential recipients.
Under G. L. c. 152, Sect. 30H, as inserted by St. 1985, c. 572, Sect. 40, OEVR "shall determine if vocational rehabilitation is necessary and feasible to return the employee to suitable employment." Employment history, transferable skills, work habits, financial need, and a host of other factors are considered by OEVR to determine whether an individual qualifies for vocational rehabilitation benefits. See 452 Code Mass. Regs. Sect. 4.05(2) (1993). The statute does not develop specific criteria which, if met, would entitle an individual to benefits, but instead provides OEVR with considerable discretion to determine whether to award such benefits. Potential recipients of vocational rehabilitation benefits accordingly do not have a property interest in those benefits rising to the level of an entitlement and are not afforded due process protection.
This is not the end of the inquiry, however, because Doyle argues that, even if an employee does not have a protected property interest in vocational rehabilitation benefits initially, the employee becomes entitled to due process protection after an initial determination is made that the employee is suitable for vocational rehabilitation benefits. Nonetheless, even if, under such circumstances, Doyle's expectation of vocational rehabilitation benefits were viewed as having risen to the level of a protected property interest, a point we need neither reach nor decide, the protection would only assure him of procedures sufficient to meet the requirements of due process. See Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976); Bielawski v. Personnel Administrator of the Div. of Personnel Admn., 422 Mass. 459, 466 (1996). "The fundamental requisite of due process is an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner." Matter of Kenney, 399 Mass. 431, 435 (1987).
Doyle contends that, in rendering an adverse suitability determination, Rogg was mistaken in assuming that he had sufficient credits to obtain a B.A. degree in psychology. Doyle asserts that, because he was not provided a hearing to correct OEVR's mistaken information, he was denied due process. In this regard, however, the record suggests that, on July 20, 1995, after Rogg's adverse redetermination, Doyle submitted a letter to Rogg with an attachment from his undergraduate institution indicating that he had not satisfied the requirements for a B.A. degree. Rogg responded to this letter on July 25, 1995, indicating that the information included in Doyle's Ju
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