Opinion ID: 2332043
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutionally Protected Interest: Stigma Plus Test

Text: The division concedes that making Ms. Jamison's and Ms. Dotson's names available to potential employers and others entitled to view names listed in the Central Registry creates a stigma that is damaging to the women's reputations. See, e.g., Valmonte v. Bane, 18 F.3d 992, 1000 (2d Cir.1994); In the Matter of Application of Anonymous v. Peters, 189 Misc.2d 203, 730 N.Y.S.2d 689, 693 (2001) (stigma results from listing on child abuse registry). But, as the division notes, stigma alone is insufficient to invoke due process protections. Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 701, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 47 L.Ed.2d 405 (1976). For state action resulting in stigmatization to rise to the level of a constitutionally protected interest, a person must also show that the state action affects some other tangible liberty or property interest. Id. This standard is known as the stigma plus test. See, e.g., Valmonte, 18 F.3d at 999; In the Matter of Lee TT v. Dowling, 87 N.Y.2d 699, 642 N.Y.S.2d 181, 664 N.E.2d 1243, 1249 (1996). Ms. Jamison and Ms. Dotson argue that the plus element of this test is satisfied because the burden placed on employers who retain or hire those listed in the Central Registry effectively precludes those listed from working in the child care profession. This practical effect arises because of the statutory and regulatory requirements associated with the registry. Although the names contained in the Central Registry are not released to the general public, they are available to persons who have a right to such information, including businesses and agencies providing or having care or custody of a child. [8] Sec. 210.150; see also sec. 210.921.1 (describing limitations of disclosure of information from the Central Registry). In fact, all Missouri child care providers are required to use the Central Registry to screen their employees and volunteers to determine whether they have committed child abuse or neglect, 19 CSR 30-62.102(1)(K), and serious ramifications will result if an employer hires or continues to employ a person whose name is in the Central Registry. For example, the DHSS may prohibit the person from being present in the facility during child care hours, id.; see also 19 CSR 30-61.105(1)(K), thereby negating the very purpose for the person's employment at a child care facility. Further, nurses who are listed in the Central Registry are subject to discipline, including loss of license, from the board of nursing. Sec. 335.066.2(15). Similarly, child care providers and similar agencies can be denied or lose their licenses if they employ or retain persons listed in the Central Registry. 13 CSR 40-71.030(1)(A)(5) (licensing of residential care facilities); 13 CSR 40-73.017(1)(A)(5) (licensing of child placement facilities). [9] In addition, state and federal funds for providing in-home child care services can be denied if a care provider is listed in the Central Registry. Sec. 210.025.3(1). These statutory and practical burdens facing a Missouri child care employer effectively preclude an individual listed in the Central Registry from obtaining employment in the child care profession. [T]he right to hold specific private employment and to follow a chosen profession free from unreasonable governmental interference implicates constitutionally protected liberty interests. Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 474, 492, 79 S.Ct. 1400, 3 L.Ed.2d 1377 (1959). Because child-care employers are required to consult the Central Registry to screen employees, public dissemination necessarily follows inclusion. Thus, listing one's name in the Central Registry squarely implicate[s] a protected liberty interest and satisfies the plus element of the stigma plus test. Dupuy v. Samuels, 397 F.3d 493, 503 (7th Cir.2005); accord, Anonymous, 730 N.Y.S.2d at 693. The division suggests that plaintiffs must show that they have lost their jobs or that their employer has lost its license or funding before a cognizable injury can be shown. As courts in other states have recognized, however, the fact that an entity employing listed persons is subject to losing funding or licensing is itself sufficient to constitute a bar to hiring and to invade the listed persons' liberty interest because no reasonable employer would hire or retain them in these circumstances. For example, the court in Cavarretta v. Dept. of Children and Family Serv., 277 Ill.App.3d 16, 214 Ill.Dec. 59, 660 N.E.2d 250, 254 (1996), found that persons placed on the Illinois child abuse registry may be prohibited from working in certain professions, such as child care and teaching, because a state statute allowed for revocation or denial of licenses for child care facilities who retain or hire such persons and because an employer who hired such persons faced the possibility of tort liability for negligent hiring should abuse allegations arise. Cavarretta found that this bar to employment in one's chosen field implicates a constitutionally protected liberty interest and that the fact that placement of the plaintiff's name in the child abuse registry had yet to result in an adverse employment decision was immaterial. Id. 660 N.E.2d at 254-55; see also Valmonte, 18 F.3d at 998-99, 1002 (petitioner need not await the consummation of threatened injury to obtain preventative relief). Similarly, the New Hampshire Supreme Court found that, because the State may revoke the license of any child day care agency that employs a person listed in the child abuse registry, listing an individual in the registry implicates a liberty interest by essentially barr[ing] him from working with children, and caus[ing] him to become unemployed and unemployable in his profession. Petition of Preisendorfer, 143 N.H. 50, 719 A.2d 590 (1998),