CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 161 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3183, 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 10581, 1999 WL 569617
...ed by Helen Heard, a non-lawyer, to represent respondent, Jacksonville Employees Together (JET). 1 AFSCME contends that Heard, as a lay representative, should have been qualified under Florida Administrative Code ,Rule 28-106.106. We affirm, because section 447.609, Florida Statutes (1997), obviates the need for such qualification, as Heard is an officer of an employee organization....
...ions Commission (PERC). AFSCME, which already represented the employees, intervened to challenge the petition for representation/certification. Helen Heard, secretary/treasurer of JET, filed a notice of appearance, which the ALJ accepted pursuant to section 447.609, providing: Representation in proceedings.— Any full-time employee or officer of any public employer or employee organization may represent his or her employer or any member of a bargaining unit in any proceeding authorized in this...
...ngly, the rule was deemed an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority “for lack of standards consistent with the legislative delegation.” Id. at 418 . Unlike section
120.62(2), which requires lay representatives to be “qualified,” section
447.609 presumes that an officer of an employee organization is qualified as a lay representative; therefore, an officer is not required to also qualify under rule 28-106.106. The administrative history of the rules implementing these statutes supports our interpretation. The lay representation at issue in Moses occurred in 1975, when rule 8H-4.13 applied, which implemented section
120.62(2). Section
447.609 was thereafter enacted in 1977....
...section
120.62(2). The rule set forth specific criteria for “qualified representatives,” presumably in response to Moses . In 1983, rule 38D-13.07, which addressed appearances before PERC, was amended to add the following provisions implementing section
447.609 and
120.62(2)....
...Because rule 28-106.106, like rule 28-5.1055 before it, establishes criteria that a “qualified representative” must meet in order to represent a party in administrative proceedings, such criteria do not pertain to a “full-time employee or officer of any public employer or employee organization” under section 447.609.- As former rule 38D-13.007 underscored, non-lawyer representatives before PERC must comply with model rule 28-106.106 only if they are not encompassed by section 447.609....
