DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, APPELLANT,
v.
ELIZABETH A. DOYLE, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2000-02-04
No. 1D99-347
BOOTH and KAHN, JJ., CONCUR; MINER, J., SPECIALLY CONCURS WITH OPINION.
750 So. 2d 746 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2000) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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.

Synopsis

This is the second appeal in a disciplinary case against a special agent of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The court affirmed the agency's finding that Doyle was entitled to the condonation defense on most charges and ordered her reinstatement with back pay and attorney's fees.


Holding

The court affirmed that Doyle was entitled to the condonation defense on three of four charges because the Agency condoned similar behavior by failing to discipline or warn employees. However, on one charge involving inappropriate comments to a trainee, the Agency did not condone the conduct, providing just cause for a one-week suspension. Doyle is entitled to reinstatement, back pay and benefits, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs.


Headnotes

[1] An agency may condone employee misconduct by failing to discipline or warn employees about prior violations.

[2] An employee may establish a condonation defense by presenting competent, substantial evidence that the agency condoned the misconduct.

Previewing 2 of 4 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

Key Quotes

“The Agency did not establish that it had disciplined or otherwise warned its employees that other violations would result in discipline, which would have constituted just cause to discipline Appellee.”

Establishes the standard for condonation defense—agency's failure to prior warn or discipline similar conduct precludes later discipline

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Elizabeth Doyle, a special agent with the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, was originally dismissed for failure to provide truthful inform…

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.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This is the second appeal of disciplinary action taken against Elizabeth Doyle, a special agent with the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, a division of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Originally Doyle was dismissed from her position, arising out of charges of failure to provide truthful information to an investigator, use of abusive or vulgar language, and unbecoming conduct. Doyle appealed her dismissal, and this court found there was insufficient evidence that she lied during the investigation. Doyle v. Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 713 So. 2d 1040 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998).

There was, however, sufficient evidence that vulgar and abusive language commonly existed in the workplace. This court remanded the case to the hearing officer expressly to determine whether Doyle was entitled to the defense of condonation on the unbecoming conduct charges. Id. at 1046.

After remand, the Public Employees Relations Commission (“PERC”) reviewed the hearing officer’s Second Supplemental Recommended Order. In its Final Order, PERC found that Doyle sufficiently raised the condonation defense in the proceedings before the hearing officer. The issue on remand, therefore, was whether Doyle presented sufficient evidence that the Agency condoned her unbecoming conduct.

We agree with PERC’s affirmance of the hearing officer’s finding of competent, substantial evidence that Doyle made inappropriate comments to a trainee, not condoned by the Agency, and this behavior provided just cause for a one-week suspension. We also agree with PERC that the condonation defense was not waived on the other three charges, and Doyle presented competent, substantial evidence that the Agency condoned that behavior. Numerous incidents of inappropriate behavior and language occurred among Agency employees. The Agency did not establish that it had disciplined or otherwise warned its employees that other violations would result in discipline, which would have constituted just cause to discipline Appellee. Rayl v. Department of Corrections, 11 FCSR ¶ 214 (1996).

We also affirm PERC’s finding that Doyle is entitled to an award of back pay and benefits under section 447.208(3)(e), Fla. Stat. (1997), as articulated in the Final Order. Likewise, we affirm PERC’s find ing that Doyle and her attorneys are entitled to an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in the administrative proceedings below, to be determined as instructed in the Final Order. § 447.208(3)(e). See Kulhari v. Department of Transportation, 8 FCSR ¶ 218 at 771-772 (1993); Thompson v. Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, 8 FCSR ¶ 198 (1993).

Accordingly, we AFFIRM the Final Order of the Public Employees Relations Commission and REMAND for Doyle’s reinstatement and a determination of back pay and attorney’s fees and costs, as provided for in the final order. BOOTH and KAHN, JJ., CONCUR; MINER, J., SPECIALLY CONCURS WITH OPINION.

Concurrence
MINER, J.,

MINER, J.,

concurring specially.

Although I am somewhat hesitant to do so, under the facts presented in this case, I concur in the result reached and write only to express the reason for my reluctance.

What troubles me is the very fact that a condonation defense exists at all in the context of the factual scenario presented in this case. The unbecoming conduct for which the appellee was sanctioned was just that and the fact that others in her state workplace used the same offensive language and engaged in the same goings-on for which she was called on the carpet, speaks volumes about an uncontrolled work environment.1

This writer is no Pollyanna — far from it. But, as they say, there is a time and place for everything and the foul language and the preoccupation with sexual matters described in the record and openly expressed in mixed company on an almost daily basis might be expected at a Tail Hook reunion, perhaps, or a men’s locker room somewhere. But, this kind of conduct in the workday world of a state office is, if nothing more, the stuff upon which sexual harassment claims against the state are founded.

. To recount the actual language used or graphically describe the conduct outlined above would add nothing of value to the law of this state and would serve only to punctuate the West Reporter system with vulgarity and obscenity.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Doyle v. Dep't OF Bus. Reg. & Pub. Emps. Relations Comm'n, 794 So. 2d 686 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
    …ing further proceedings on remand, PERC imposed a one-week suspension, and this court affirmed, over the agency’s appeal, remanding to PERC for an award of back pay and benefits and attorney’s fees and costs. See Dep’t of Bus. & Prof. Reg. v. Doyle, 750 So. 2d 746 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000). On remand, Doyle and the agency resolved almost all back pay and benefits issues, but they disagreed on a claim for additional compensation for loss of seniority and advancement in rank, and also on Doyle’s entitlement to a mea…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw