Lawsuit is dismissed over Florida’s controversial 2023 law restricting public employee unions

Share
Labor unions
Labor unions. Via nebari / iStock for WMNF News

©2024 The News Service of Florida

After police and firefighter unions said they were dropping the case, the 1st District Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed an appeal stemming from a controversial 2023 law that placed additional restrictions on many public employee unions.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Teamsters and the Florida Professional Firefighters filed notices last month that said they were dropping the case.

While the notices did not detail reasons, the filings came after lawmakers passed a measure this year that made revisions to the 2023 law. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure March 22.

The 2023 law included restrictions such as preventing union dues from being deducted from public workers’ paychecks.

But it exempted unions representing law-enforcement officers, correctional officers and firefighters from the restrictions.

The public safety unions, however, challenged rules that the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission developed to carry out the law.

They said the rules would improperly apply the restrictions to bargaining units with civilian workers — such as dispatchers and 911 operators — represented by the law enforcement and firefighter unions.

This year’s bill (SB 1746) included a series of changes that said the exemptions would apply to bargaining units “the majority of whose employees eligible for representation are employed” as law-enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters, 911 workers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Morning Show Thursday
Player position: