TALLAHASSEE -- An administrative law judge Friday rejected a challenge by police and firefighter unions to the way the state is carrying out a new law that placed additional restrictions on unions representing government employees.
Judge Robert Cohen issued a 33-page order dismissing the challenge filed in July by the Florida Police Benevolent Association and later joined by the Florida Professional Firefighters, the Teamsters and the Fraternal Order of Police.
The controversial law, approved this spring by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature, includes 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 made up of civilian workers - such as dispatchers and 911 operators - represented by the law enforcement and firefighter unions.
The challenge contended the exemptions from the restrictions were intended to apply to all workers represented by public-safety unions - not just law-enforcement officers, correctional officers and firefighters.
"In an apparent disregard for and in contravention of the plain and unambiguous language of the exemptions ... the proposed rules...
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