THE SCHOOL BOARD OF LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RELATIONS COMMISSION, IBPAT, DISTRICT COUNCIL # 66, AND SOUTH FLORIDA AFSCME, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1980-04-09
Nos. JJ-451, KK-410
MILLS, C. J., and SHIVERS, J., concur.
382 So. 2d 1260 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1980) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

The School Board of Lee County appealed PERC's orders designating certain employees as confidential and certifying an employee organization following an election. The court reversed PERC's refusal to classify personal secretaries of school principals as confidential employees but affirmed PERC's determinations regarding other managers and supervisors, remanding for clarification of bargaining unit terminology.


Holding

The court held that personal secretaries of school principals are confidential employees as a matter of law under Section 447.203(5), Florida Statutes. However, the court declined to extend this categorical ruling to all other secretaries, requiring PERC to make factual determinations based on actual duties. PERC properly determined that various supervisory positions (cafeteria managers, drive supervisors, etc.) are not managerial employees. The case was remanded for clarification of the bargaining unit terminology.


Headnotes

[1] The personal secretary of a school principal is, as a matter of law, a confidential employee within the meaning of Section 447.203(5), Florida Statutes.

[2] PERC must make a factual determination of the duties of secretaries for other managerial employees to determine if they are confidential employees, based on substantial c…

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Key Quotes

“the personal secretary of a school principal is, by definition, a confidential employee within the meaning and application of Section 447.203(5), Florida Statutes (1977)”

Establishes that personal secretaries of principals are categorically confidential employees as a matter of law

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Facts & Procedural History

The School Board of Lee County petitioned PERC for managerial and confidential employee designations. PERC refused to classify personal secretaries of…

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Opinion of the Court
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Judge.

ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Judge.

The School Board of Lee County appeals from PERC’s order on the Board’s petition for managerial/eonfidential designations, and from PERC’s later order, after an election, certifying the successful employee organization.

We reverse PERC’s order designating confidential employees to the extent that PERC refused that classification to personal secretaries of school principals. This court determined as a matter of law in School Board of Palm Beach County v. Florida Pub. Employees Relations Comm’n, 374 So. 2d 527 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), cert. den., 380 So. 2d 427 (Fla.1980), that the personal secretary of a school principal is, by definition, a confidential employee within the meaning and application of Section 447.203(5), Florida Statutes (1977).

We decline to extend that categorical ruling to include all secretaries for other managerial employees .in the school system. As to those, PERC’s responsibility is to make a factual determination of their actual duties, based on substantial competent evidence. See City of Winter Park v. Florida Pub. Employees Relations Comm’n, 349 So. 2d 224 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977).

PERC’s order in this case, concerning those other secretaries, is without error.

We find no error in PERC’s determination that the following are not managerial employees within the meaning of Section 447.203(4), Florida Statutes (1977): cafeteria managers, drive supervisors, route supervisors, shop foremen, maintenance supervisors, maintenance and operations foreman, director of purchasing, payroll supervisor, print shop supervisor, supervisor of fiscal control, supervisor of school plant planning, and warehouse supervisor. PERC chose unnecessarily obscure language when describing the bargaining unit as including “[a]ll regular full and part-time blue-collar non-instructional employees, including those occupying CETA PSE positions . . . The cause will be remanded for clarification of the term “blue-collar.” PERC does not lack power to alter terminology in the unit description agreed to by appellant, the employer, and Local No. 66 of International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, the original petitioner for certification. Appellee South Florida AFSCME, which as the certification recipient is now the real labor party in interest, did not agree to the proposed unit description.

Moreover, PERC lacks power to alter proposed unit determinations only when the employer voluntarily recognizes an employee organization, which did not occur here. School Board of Marion County v. Public Employees Relations Comm’n, 330 So. 2d 770 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976).

We find no other significant error. Appellant’s motion for attorney fees is DENIED.

AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part.

MILLS, C. J., and SHIVERS, J., concur.


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Cited By

  • …is recommendation, the hearing officer relied upon this court’s decision in Palm Beach County, a case which PERC states was overruled by this court’s subsequent decision in School Board of Lee County v. Florida Public Employees Relations Commission, 382 So. 2d 1260 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). However, we agree with the college that even if the hearing officer’s reliance upon Palm Beach County was misplaced, there is ample record evidence supporting a confidential designation for these two secretaries. We find that th…

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