Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...ed by Chapter 447. Yet, there is nothing in Chapter 447 which remotely suggests that records otherwise available under the Public Records Act should not be furnished to those engaged in organizing government employees. It is significant to note that Section 447.605(3), Florida Statutes (1974), provides that all work products developed by the public employer in preparation for negotiations and during negotiations shall be exempt from the provisions of Chapter 119....

...] Florida's "Sunshine Law" [2] no longer applies to the ongoing bargaining process between the City's bargaining representative and the bargaining representative for the employees' unions. The trial judge disagreed with that contention and held that section 447.605(2), Florida Statutes (1985), required that the continuing meetings held after impasse to resolve the disputed issues be held in the "sunshine." We agree with the trial judge and affirm his order which granted injunctive relief to the appellee, News-Press Publishing Company, Inc....

...The City Council, at a public meeting with notice, subsequently approved the contract, including the terms of the settlement agreed to during the private meeting on December 10. We focus our attention, as did the trial judge, on the following pertinent part of PERA, section 447.605: (1) All discussions between the chief executive officer of the public employer, or his representative, and the legislative body or the public employer relative to collective bargaining shall be exempt from s....

...n when it enacted the Public Employee Relations Act in chapter 74-100, Laws of Florida. That act, which became chapter 447, provided that public employee collective bargaining negotiations between the contending parties be held in the sunshine. *412 § 447.605(2), Fla....

...ure has divided the total policy question into two categories [sic]. One in which the public employer is meeting with its own side and one in which the public employer is meeting with the other side. The first it has exempted from the Sunshine Law F.S. 447.605(1). The second it has specifically required be under the Sunshine Law F.S. 447.605(2)....

...right to bargain collectively and the Sunshine Law. We see no such confrontation. Florida public employees have the constitutional right to bargain collectively subject to the reasonable conditions of PERA, including application of the Sunshine Law. § 447.605(2), Fla....

...n 447.203(17), Florida Statutes (2005), which includes among a non-exclusive list of indicia of bad faith bargaining by an employer, "(d) Refusing, upon reasonable written request, to provide public information, excluding work products as defined in s. 447.605." § 447.203(17)(d), Fla....

...rmation is a right separate and distinct from that of access to public documents under Florida's Public Records Act, Chapter 119, Florida Statutes (1981). Certain information relevant to the collective bargaining process, such as work products under Section 447.605(3), may be available to a party under a request pursuant to the collective bargaining law but unavailable to a member of the public pursuant to a public records request....

...e controls over Commission musings to the contrary. Should the Commission require further authority to appreciate the error of its reasoning below, it need only look to the statute it is charged to carry out. See Ch. 447, Part II, Fla. Stat. (2005). Section 447.605(3) of that statute provides: "All work products developed by the public employer in preparation for negotiations, and during negotiations, shall be confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1)." § 447.605(3)....

...for declaratory and injunctive relief in circuit court against the Mayor, in his official capacity, the City, and the Board. The complaint alleged that the closed-door mediation sessions constituted collective bargaining negotiations that, under section 447.605(2), Florida Statutes 3 (2013), were conducted in violation of Florida’s Sunshine Law as codified in section 286.011, Florida Statutes (2013)....

...In addition, it should be construed so as to frustrate all evasive devices. See City of Miami Beach v. Berns, 245 So. 2d 38, 41 (Fla. 1971). Chapter 447, Part II, Florida Statutes (PERA), governs collective bargaining of public employees. Section 447.605(2), Florida Statutes (2013), provides: The collective bargaining negotiations between a chief executive officer, or his or her representative, and a bargaining agent shall be in compliance with the provisions of s....

...447, Florida Statutes, and the Sunshine Law). The circuit court found that the Board acted as the Unions’ bargaining agent in the mediation sessions, which, in the context of the Sunshine Law, was a proper finding. The circuit court focused on the fact that section 447.605(2) requires collective bargaining to be conducted in the sunshine when negotiations involve a “bargaining agent.” Considering the definition of bargaining agent in section 447.203(12), Florida Statutes (2013), the circuit court...

011 and need not be held in the “sunshine”. Section 447.-605(1), Florida Statutes (1975). Therefore, PERC’s

closed executive sessions conducted pursuant to section 447.605(1), Florida Statutes? 2. During active negotiations

...School Board does not challenge PERC’s conclusion that the budget work sheets constituted “public records” within Section 119.011(1), Florida Statutes (1977). 1 Rather, School Board submits that the work sheets are expressly exempted by general law, viz, Section 447.605(3), Florida Statutes (1977), which provides: (3) All work products developed by the public employer in preparation for negotiations, and during negotiations, shall be exempt from Chapter 119....

...International Association of Fire Fighters, Local No. 2157, 298 So.2d 478 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974), this court indicated that budgetary proposals prepared in the normal and required course of municipal business would not be exempt under Section 447.023(3), Ch. 74-100, § 3, Laws of Fla. [renumbered as Section 447.605(3)], since the statute exempts only materials developed by the public employer in preparation for or during labor negotiations. In In re: The Petition for Declaratory Statement of United Teachers of Dade, 4 FPER ¶4250 (1978), PERC discussed the exemption created by Section 447.605(3)....

...PERC noted: Public employers make use of many public records in preparation for and during negotiations, but unless those records are ‘developed by the public employer in preparation for negotiations, and during negotiations,’ they are not exempt under Section 447.605(3). . . . Records which are prepared for other purposes do not, as a result of being used in negotiations, come within the exemption of Section 447.605(3)....

...the School Board in developing its 1978-79 budget. The fact that the work sheets were subsequently used to assist the School Board in collective bargaining negotiations with ABCE did not render the documents exempt from the Public Records Act under Section 447.605(3)....

...7-3102 Dear Mr. Roath: On behalf of the City Commission of the City of North Port, you ask substantially the following question: May a participant disclose information obtained during a meeting regarding labor negotiations that is closed pursuant to section 447.605 , Florida Statutes? Section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, states: "All discussions between the chief executive officer of the public employer, or his or her representative, and the legislative body or the public employer relative to collective bargaining shall be closed and exempt from the provisions of s....

...e public employer, or a representative of such officer, and the legislative body or the public employer. Only work product developed by the public employer in preparing for the negotiations and during negotiations are specifically made confidential. Section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, does not directly address the dissemination of information that may be obtained at a closed meeting under the section, 1 but the nature of such proceedings shows a clear intent that matters discussed during such meetings are not to be open to public disclosure....

...t been made public for personal gain or to assist another to do so. A determination of whether a specific situation violates section 839.26 , Florida Statutes, is a mixed question of law and fact that may not be resolved by this office. Accordingly, section 447.605 , Florida Statutes, does not specifically restrict the dissemination of information discussed at closed labor negotiation meetings, other than work product developed in preparation for negotiations and during negotiations. There are, however, other Florida laws prohibiting the disclosure of such information or subjecting the person disclosing the information to penalties, under certain circumstances. Participants in meetings that are closed pursuant to section 447.605 , Florida Statutes, should be sensitive to the stated denial of public access when matters discussed at such meetings subsequently arise....

...e 200 Vero Beach, Florida 32963 Dear Mr. Petersen: On behalf of the Indian River County School Board, you ask substantially the following questions: 1. May the superintendent and the labor negotiating committee meet with the school board pursuant to section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, and discuss matters relating to pending collective bargaining, in closed session and exempt from section 286.011 , Florida Statutes? 2....

...Where the superintendent's responsibility to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of the school board has been completely delegated to a separate labor negotiating committee and the superintendent does not participate in the collective bargaining negotiations, the exemption afforded by section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, applies to discussions between the labor negotiating committee and the school board only and does not encompass discussions among the committee, school board and superintendent....

...nshine Law applies and not merely to a formal assemblage of a public body at which voting to ratify an official decision is carried out. Thus, the statute extends to discussions and deliberations as well as to formal action taken by a public body. 1 Section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, however, grants a limited exemption from the requirements of section 286.011 , Florida Statutes, for certain meetings relating to collective bargaining, stating: "All discussions between the chief executive offi...

...om the public employer regarding its position on the pending collective bargaining issues. Section 447.203 (9) of Part II, Chapter 447 , Florida Statutes, defines the term "[c]hief executive officer" as used in that part, and specifically as used in section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, to mean "the person, whether elected or appointed, who is responsible to the legislative body of the public employer for the administration of the governmental affairs of the public employer." 6 In Attorney General Opinion 85-99, this office concluded that the negotiating committee of a city that lacked a city administrator or city manager could utilize the exemption afforded by section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, when meeting with the city council to discuss pending collective bargaining negotiations....

...47.203 (9), Florida Statutes, need not be interpreted to mean only individuals. 7 This office thus concluded that the chief executive officer, whether that position be held by an individual or a group, should also be allowed the benefits provided by section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, that is, the opportunity to consult privately with the legislative body or the public employer. Moreover, section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, specifically recognizes that the role of the chief executive officer may be delegated to the officer's representative....

...As noted above, it is the responsibility of the superintendent as chief executive officer or, as here, the superintendent's representative, to consult with and represent the views of the school board during collective bargaining negotiations. The discussions exempted pursuant to section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, are to advise such negotiators of the stance and position of the public employer....

...Accordingly, where the superintendent's responsibility to conduct collective bargaining has been completely delegated to a separate and independent labor negotiating committee and the superintendent does not participate in the collective bargaining negotiations, the exemption afforded by section 447.605 (1), Florida Statutes, relates only to the discussions between the labor negotiating committee and the school board and does not encompass discussions among the committee, school board and superintendent....

binding except as taken or made at such meeting. Section 447.605 grants an exemption from s. 286.011 for certain