STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, APPELLANT,
v.
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RELATIONS COMMISSION, AND, FLORIDA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES COUNCIL 79, AFSCME, APPELLEES
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The State of Florida appealed a Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) decision denying the Department of Administration's request to classify Division of Administrative Hearings hearing officers as managerial employees and their secretaries as confidential employees. The court affirmed PERC's determination that hearing officers are non-managerial and thus entitled to collective bargaining rights.
DOAH hearing officers are non-managerial employees entitled to collective bargaining rights, and therefore their secretaries are not confidential employees under Section 447.203(5), Florida Statutes. The managerial indicia of the statute must be narrowly construed given the constitutional dimensions of collective bargaining rights.
[1] Managerial indicia must be narrowly construed when conferring managerial status would deprive public employees of their constitutional right to collective bargaining.
[2] Substantial deference must be given to the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission's (PERC) interpretation of statutes governing public employee collective bargaini…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“If managerial status was conferred upon DOAH hearing officers, it would remove them from the public employee sector and deprive them of the right to collective bargaining through a labor union.”
Establishes the consequence of managerial classification and the constitutional significance of collective bargaining rights at issue.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Department of Administration sought to remove hearing officers of the Division of Administrative Hearings from a union bargaining unit by classify…
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JOANOS, Judge.
The State of Florida, Department of Administration (DOA) appeals a Florida Public Employees Relations Commission’s (PERC) final administrative order denying DOA’s request for managerial status for Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) hearing officers, denying DOA’s request that secretaries to the hearing officers be designated as confidential employees, and denying DOA’s request to exclude the secretarial positions from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union bargaining unit due to a conflict of interests. We affirm.
If managerial status was conferred upon DOAH hearing officers, it would remove them from the public employee sector and deprive them of the right to collective bargaining through a labor union. Section 447.203, Florida Statutes (1981). There are, of course, constitutional overtones to the right to collective bargaining. See, Article I, Section 6, Florida Constitution. Given the constitutional overtones of collective bargaining and the loss of the right to collectively bargain when managerial status is conferred, the managerial indicia of Section 447.203(4), Florida Statutes (1981), must be narrowly construed. In re Managerial/Confidential Petition of the Orlando Professional Fire Fighters Local 1365, IAFF, 7 FPER par. 12372 (1981).
Substantial deference must be given to PERC’s interpretation of Section 447.-203(4), Florida Statutes (1981). Palm Beach Junior College v. United Faculty of Palm Beach Junior College, 425 So. 2d 133 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).
The testimony of the DOAH director shows that DOAH hearing officers perform no managerial functions within or without the DOAH.
We note DOA’s persuasive argument that DOAH hearing officers do not fit precisely into the conventional definitions of labor and management. However, the legislature created the categories under Chapter 447, with no exceptions for DOAH hearing officers.
Having properly found DOAH hearing officers to be non-managerial, PERC correctly concluded that the secretaries to the non-managerial officers were not confidential employees. Section 447.203(5), Florida Statutes (1981). Given the substantial, competent evidence to support PERC’s final order, the deference due PERC’s decision, and the narrow construction due to the involvement of a constitutional right, we AFFIRM.
LARRY G. SMITH and WENTWORTH, JJ., concur.
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Dep't of Agric. & Consumer Servs. v. Edwards, 654 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)…f chapter 447 is entitled to great deference. See Public Employees Relations Commission v. Dade County Police Benevolent Association, Inc., 467 So. 2d 987, 989 (Fla.1985); State, Department of Administration v. Public Employees Relations Commission, 443 So. 2d 258 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Board of Regents v. Public Employees Relations Commission, 368 So. 2d 641 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 379 So. 2d 202 (Fla.1979). “[A] reviewing court must defer to an agency’s interpretation of an operable statute as long as t…
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Headley v. City OF Miami, 118 So. 3d 885 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013)…Manatee Educ. Assoc. v. Sch. Bd. of Manatee Cnty., 62 So. 3d 1176, 1178 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). Because section 447.4095 impairs collective bargaining rights, the statute must be narrowly construed. See Dep’t of Admin. v. Pub. Empls. Relations Comm’n, 443 So. 2d 258, 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (explaining that the statute defining “managerial employees” must be narrowly construed because of the “constitutional overtones of collective bargaining and the loss of the right to collectively bargain when managerial stat…
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United Faculty OF Florida v. Pub. Emps. Relations Comm'n, 898 So. 2d 96 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005)…chapter 447 [that] is entitled to great deference. See Public Employees Relations Commission v. Dade County Police Benevolent Association, 467 So. 2d 987, 989 (Fla.1985); State, Department of Administration v. Public Employees Relations Commission, 443 So. 2d 258 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Board of Regents v. Public Employees Relations Commission, 368 So. 2d 641 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 379 So. 2d 202 (Fla.1979). “[A] reviewing court must defer to an agency’s interpretation of an operable statute as long as t…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Palm Beach Junior Coll. Bd. of Trs. v. United Faculty of Palm Beach Junior Coll., 425 So. 2d 133 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)