PUBLIC HEALTH TRUST, D/B/A JACKSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, APPELLANT,
v.
HERIBERTO HERNANDEZ, APPELLEE
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Public Health Trust appeals a circuit court order compelling arbitration of a former employee's termination dispute. The court reverses, holding that the employee was contractually obligated to exhaust the four-step grievance procedure outlined in the collective bargaining agreement before seeking arbitration.
An employee bound by a collective bargaining agreement must exhaust the contractual grievance procedure before seeking arbitration. Even if the employee qualifies as a third-party beneficiary under the agreement, that status does not entitle the employee to bypass the mandatory grievance process and proceed directly to arbitration.
[1] A party bound by a collective bargaining agreement must exhaust administrative remedies outlined in the agreement before seeking judicial relief.
[2] An employee who is a member of a union is contractually obligated to follow the grievance process established by the collective bargaining agreement.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“It is a well settled principal that a party, when bound by a collective bargaining agreement, must exhaust any administrative remedy prior to litigating in court.”
Establishes the fundamental principle that employees cannot bypass contractual grievance procedures to seek immediate arbitration.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePublic Health Trust terminated Heriberto Hernandez, a county employee represented by a union, after a pretermination hearing. The collective bargainin…
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PER CURIAM.
The appellant, Public Health Trust d/b/a Jackson Memorial Hospital (“PHT”), a Miami-Dade County agency operating the County’s public hospital system, appeals a non-final order granting a former county employee’s motion to compel arbitration.
We reverse finding the employee violated the grievance provisions in the employer/union collective bargaining agreement by improperly seeking immediate arbitration. PHT terminated appellee, Heriberto Hernandez (“Hernandez”), after a preter-mination hearing and advised him that he had the right to appeal his termination using a grievance process outlined in the parties’ collective bargaining agreement. This agreement, negotiated between PHT and Hernandez’s Union, has a four-step grievance procedure concerning termination. The agreement provided that after the grievance procedure had been followed, if the Union was unsatisfied with the result, then it could seek arbitration.
Hernandez, however, chose not to use the grievance process beyond the preter-mination hearing and immediately petitioned for arbitration in the circuit court. Hernandez acted independently without further Union representation or Union approval.
In the circuit court petition, Hernandez argued that he was entitled to arbitration because he was a third-party beneficiary under the collective bargaining agreement citing Zac Smith & Co. v. Moonspinner Condominium Ass’n, Inc., 472 So. 2d 1324 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985).
The Zac Smith & Co. issue was whether a third-party beneficiary who sues on a contract was bound by the arbitration clause contained in the contract. The court held that a contractual provision requiring all disputes to be dealt with through arbitration applied to third-party beneficiaries. In this case, however, even if Hernandez was a third-party beneficiary, he could not require PHT to arbitrate utilizing Zac Smith & Co.’s reasoning because, as a third-party beneficiary, Hernandez was contractually obligated to follow the grievance procedure.
It is a well settled principal that a party, when bound by a collective bargaining agreement, must exhaust any administrative remedy prior to litigating in court. See, Kantor v. Sch. Bd. of Monroe County, 648 So. 2d 1266 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)(“To the extent that appellant contends there was a violation of a provision of the collective bargaining agreement, appellant was obliged to resort to the grievance procedure specified therein.”); Koenig v. Tyler, 360 So. 2d 104 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)(having designated the Union as their agent for collective bargaining purposes, County employees are bound by agreements made by the Union on their behalf).
As a member of the Union, Hernandez was contractually obligated to exhaust his administrative remedies by following the four-step grievance process prior to litigating in court. He failed to do so, and thus the petition to compel arbitration should have been denied. Accordingly, we reverse the order compelling PHT to arbitrate. See, Galbreath v. Sch. Bd. of Broward County, 446 So. 2d 1045 (Fla.1984); City of Miami v. Del Rio, 723 So. 2d 299 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998), review denied, 733 So. 2d 515 (Fla.1999); City of Miami v. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 20 of City of Miami, 378 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979).
Reversed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Deshazior v. Sch. Bd. OF Miami-Dade Cnty., 217 So. 3d 151 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017)…3d 464, 469 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015) (holding: “It is a well settled principle] that a party, when bound by a collective bargaining agreement, must exhaust an administrative remedy prior to litigating in court”) (quoting Public Health Trust v. Hernandez, 751 So. 2d 124, 125 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)). We find no merit in the other issues raised by Deshazior. Affirmed.…
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Bello v. Miami-Dade Cnty., 167 So. 3d 464 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015)…d law and policy in Florida that when a public employee is represented by a labor union, the employee’s dispute with his or her employer first must be addressed according to the terms of the bargained-for agreement. Public Health Trust v. Hernandez, 751 So. 2d 124, 125 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000) (“It is a well settled principal [sic] that a party, when bound by a collective bargaining agreement, must exhaust any administrative remedy prior to litigating in court.”).5 III. Conclusion In this appeal, we cannot say wh…
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Roberts v. Miami-Dade Cnty., 249 So. 3d 1309 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)…ourt agreed and affirmed. Id. at 468-69. We thus find Bello directly on point with the case before us. Like the employee in Bello, Roberts has failed to exhaust his administrative remedies. Id. at 469 (citing Public Health Trust v. Hernandez, 751 So. 2d 124, 125 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000) ("It is a well settled principal [sic] that a party, when bound by a collective bargaining agreement, must exhaust any administrative remedy prior to litigating in court.")). Roberts was bound by the terms of the applicab…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- City OF Miami v. Fraternal Order OF Police Lodge NO. 20 OF the City OF Miami, 378 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)
- ZAC Smith & Co., Inc. v. Moonspinner Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 472 So. 2d 1324 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)
- City OF Miami v. DEL RIO, 723 So. 2d 299 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)
- Koenig v. Ashton Tyler & Metro. Dade Cnty., 360 So. 2d 104 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- Ruel A. Galbreath v. The Sch. Bd. OF Broward Cnty., 446 So. 2d 1045 (Fla. 1984)
- Kantor v. The Sch. Bd. OF Monroe Cnty., 648 So. 2d 1266 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)