D. MICHAEL CHESSER, IN HIS CAPACITY AS CITY ATTORNEY FOR THE CITY OF FT. WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
THOMAS B. RAY, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed an order allowing a former police chief and department head to use the city's grievance procedure to challenge his dismissal. The court held that the ordinance's grievance procedures were not intended to apply to upper-level management personnel such as the police chief.
The court held that the ordinance's grievance procedures, particularly the termination committee review process, are not intended to apply to upper-echelon management level personnel such as a police chief and department head. The ordinance distinguishes between employees and management, and upper-level management personnel have no point of entry into the grievance process that would allow them to access the termination committee review.
[1] A municipal ordinance establishing a grievance procedure for employees does not apply to high-level management personnel if the procedure's steps are not designed for the…
[2] A grievance procedure's final step, involving a termination committee and hearing, is expressly conditioned on the employee having exhausted the preceding steps of the pr…
Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“This grievance procedure is established to provide employees a full opportunity to bring to the attention of management matters of disagreement arising out of the employment relationship.”
Establishes the general purpose of the ordinance's grievance procedure, which the court found did not extend to management personnel
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThomas B. Ray was the former police chief and head of the City of Ft. Walton Beach's Department of Safety. He was dismissed from employment and sought…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Municipal Ordinance Interpretation cases and more on FLexlaw
WENTWORTH, Judge.
Appellant, the Ft. Walton Beach City Attorney, seeks review of an order whereby it was determined that appellee, the former police chief and head of the city Department of Safety, is entitled to have his dismissal from employment reviewed by a termination committee impaneled pursuant to the “grievance procedure” provisions of Ft. Walton Beach Municipal Ordinance 678.1. We conclude that the ordinance’s grievance procedures are not intended to apply to the police chief and head of the city Department of Safety, and we therefore reverse the order appealed.
Ft. Walton Beach Municipal Ordinance 678.1 provides, at § 15A-41, that:
This grievance procedure is established to provide employees a full opportunity to bring to the attention of management matters of disagreement arising out of the employment relationship.
The ordinance then establishes, at § 15-44, a four-step grievance process for the presentment of complaints:
Step 1: Oral presentation to the employee’s immediate supervisor. Step 2: A meeting with the appropriate Department Head.
Step 3: Written presentation to the City Manager. Step 4 (Available only to employees “who have been discharged for violation of city Standards of Conduct ... [and] only ... after the employee has pressed his grievance through the first three steps): Written presentation, and a possible hearing, before a Termination Committee.
As appellant contends, the ordinance does tend to distinguish between employees and management, and upper-echelon management level personnel such as appellee have no possible point of entry into the grievance process below step three.1 Step four, including review by the Termination Committee, is expressly inapplicable unless “the employee has pressed his grievance through the first three steps.” Consideration of the entire ordinance, with particular attention to the provisions of § 15A-44, suggests that the grievance procedure is not intended to apply to management level personnel such as appellee.
Accordingly, the order appealed is reversed.
BOOTH and THOMPSON, JJ., concur. . And step three is itself an essentially ineffec-five procedure for personnel such as appellee.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
The City OF Fort Walton Beach v. Al Grant, 544 So. 2d 230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)…aneled pursuant to the "grievance procedure” outlined in the City Ordinance Code. Ray v. Chesser, Case No. 82-91, Circuit Court for Okaloosa County. The trial court agreed with Ray and the City Attorney appealed. This court reversed. Chesser v. Ray, 425 So. 2d 92 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). . After the initial order dismissing Counts II-VI, the Councilmen amended Count IV to allege that they had requested legal representation from former City Attorney Chesser in the federal lawsuit, who advised them that he had a…