Hillsborough County Governmental Employees Ass'n, Inc. v. Hillsborough County Aviation Authority

• Decision Date: 17 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. 68336,68336
• Citation: 13 Fla. L. Weekly 199,522 So.2d 358
• Parties: 13 Fla. L. Weekly 199 HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION, INC., Hillsborough County Police Benevolent Association, Inc., and Public Employees Relations Commission, Petitioners, v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY AVIATION AUTHORITY and Hillsborough County Civil Service Board, Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 358

522 So.2d 358

13 Fla. L. Weekly 199

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION, INC., Hillsborough County Police Benevolent Association, Inc., and Public Employees Relations Commission, Petitioners, v. HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY AVIATION AUTHORITY and Hillsborough County Civil Service Board, Respondents.

No. 68336.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 17, 1988.

Gene "Hal" Johnson, Florida Police Benev. Ass'n, Inc., Tallahassee, and Phillip P. Quaschnick, General Counsel, Florida Public Employees Relations Com'n, Tallahassee, for petitioners.

Lucius M. Dyal, Jr. of Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans, Tampa, for Hillsborough County Aviation Authority.

Peter W. Zinober and Richard C. McCrea, Jr. of Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler and J. Ronald Wigginton, Tampa, for Hillsborough County Civil Service Bd.

KOGAN, Justice.

This case is before the Court on petition to review a decision of the Second District Court of Appeal, Hillsborough County Aviation Authority v. Hillsborough County Governmental Employees Association, 482 So.2d 505 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Because that court certified to us a question of great public importance, we have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4)., Fla. Const.

The petitioners, Hillsborough County Governmental Employees Association (GEA) and the Hillsborough County Police Benevolent Association (PBA), as certified negotiators for their respective groups of public employees, bargained collectively for, and reached an agreement with, the respondents, the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (Authority). The agreements were ratified by the employees and, pursuant to section 447.309(3), Florida Statutes (1985), the Authority requested the Hillsborough County Civil Service Board (Board) to amend its rules to comport with the new provisions of the agreement. The Board refused to amend its rules concerning personal holidays, funeral leave, and seniority, at which time the Authority notified the employees that it would not implement the new contractual provisions. The PBA and the GEA filed unfair labor practice charges with the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC). The PERC determined that the Authority had committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to implement the new provisions.

The Board and the Authority appealed to the second district, arguing that the Authority had not committed an unfair labor practice since it was following the law expressed in section 447.309(3), Florida Statutes (1985), and that court's decision in Pinellas County Police Benevolent Association v. Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, 347 So.2d 801 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977). PBA and GEA argued that if section 447.309(3) were given the construction urged by the Board and the Authority, it would unconstitutionally abridge the right to bargain collectively, as enunciated in Article I, section 6 of the Florida Constitution, citing Hotel, Motel, Restaurant Employees & Bartenders Union v. Escambia County School Board, 426 So.2d 1017 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). The court, rather than addressing the constitutionality of section 447.309(3), reversed PERC's decision on the ground that the Authority could not have violated its duty to bargain in good faith if it was simply following statutory and case law. The district court then certified to this Court the following question of great public importance:

When provisions of a collective bargaining agreement which has been entered into by a public employer conflict with civil service rules and regulations and the governmental body having amendatory power over the civil service rules and regulations refuses to amend those rules and regulations in such a manner as to eliminate the conflict, does section 447.309(3) apply to civil service rules and regulations and therefore govern the effectiveness of the collective bargaining agreement?

482 So.2d at 509. For the reasons which follow we must answer the certified question in the negative and quash that portion of the decision of the district court of appeal which conflicts with this opinion.

Before analyzing these issues it is necessary to set out all the relevant statutory and constitutional provisions. Section 447.309(3) provides:

If any provision of a collective bargaining agreement is in conflict with any law, ordinance, rule, or regulation over which the chief executive officer has no amendatory power, the chief executive officer shall submit to the appropriate governmental body having amendatory power a proposed amendment to such law, ordinance, rule, or regulation. Unless and until such amendment is enacted or adopted and becomes effective, the conflicting provision of the collective bargaining agreement shall not become effective (Emphasis added).

This statute clearly provides that collective bargaining agreements do not become effective unless and until the appropriate governmental body makes the necessary amendments. It is upon this statute that the Board and the Authority heavily rely.

Taking the contrary position GEA, PBA, and PERC argue that section 447.601, Florida Statutes (1985), resolves any conflict between the agreement and civil service rules. That statute provides:

The provisions of this part ["Public Employees"] shall not be construed to repeal, amend, or modify the provisions of any law or ordinance establishing a merit or civil service system for public employees or the rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto or to prohibit or hinder the establishment of other such personnel systems unless the provisions of such merit or civil service system laws or ordinances or rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto are in conflict with the provisions of this part, in which event such laws, ordinances, or rules and regulations shall not apply, except as provided in § 447.301(4) ["Public Employee Grievances"] (Emphasis added).

It is somewhat less clear what conflict this resolves. PERC, GEA and PBA argue that this provision mandates that when collective bargaining provisions conflict with civil service laws, ordinances, or rules, the bargaining contract must prevail. The result obtained under their interpretation of section 447.309(3) is opposite the result urged by the Authority, the Board, and the second district under their interpretation of this section. Because section 447.601 is ambiguous the conflict addressed is unclear. Certainly PERC's interpretation is one viable alternative, but it is by no means the only reasonable interpretation of the statute.

Against these statutory provisions there exists a backdrop of two seemingly contradictory constitutional provisions. The first, as part of the Florida Constitution's "Declaration of Rights," guarantees all persons the right to bargain collectively with their employers. ^* This right has been held to apply to public employees as well as those working in the private sector. Dade County Classroom Teachers Association v. Ryan, 225 So.2d 903 (Fla.1969). Article III, section 14 authorizes the legislature to create local civil service systems for state, county, district, or municipal employees. Pursuant to this constitutional provision, the legislature has set up numerous civil service boards around the state, including the Hillsborough County Civil Service Board.

It is with these constitutional and statutory provisions in mind that we examine the contentions of the parties. The Board argues that under section 447.309(3), it has the power to reject any application to amend its rules to conform with the collective bargaining agreement. The primary purpose of the civil service system, the Board further contends, is to maintain uniformity of pay and benefits throughout the local government. The Board's interpretation of the statute, the same interpretation given to it by the first district in Escambia County, would defeat the purpose of the civil service system because there would no longer be uniformity among the several collective bargaining units to which its rules apply.

The Authority argues, as it did in the second district below, that it could not have committed an unfair labor practice because it was merely following established statutory and case law. Their contention centers on an interpretation that the fair labor practices laws are punitive in nature rather than remedial.

GEA, PBA, and PERC contend that the interpretation of section 447.309(3) by the second district and the Board would render the statute unconstitutional as an impermissible abridgement of the right to bargain collectively. The employees argue that so long as the Board has the unilateral right to strike down any portion of the collective bargaining agreement, the right to enter into an effective collective bargaining agreement is nullified, thus violating Article I, section 6 of the Florida Constitution. The employees further contend that this Court should adopt the first district's interpretation of section 477.601 in Escambia County. The first district stated that when there is a conflict between the civil service rules and the collective bargaining agreement, the agreement controls.

Civil service boards began as a means of maintaining uniformity in wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment among all public employees within the board's jurisdiction. The purpose was to insure that some public employees did not receive more or less benefits than other public employees for doing essentially the same job. The civil service system has evolved to the point where it is not necessary for each public employee doing the same job to rely on the civil service board to insure that terms and conditions of employment are uniform. Within each profession or type of employment in the civil service system, a union has evolved to help maintain fair and uniform working conditions. For example, police officers have the PBA to insure that they are treated in a fair and uniform manner just as government workers have the GEA to do the same for them.

The civil...