Opinion: Burden on state workers

Republicans are rushing a bill through the Florida House that would change the employment rules for most of the 125,000 state workers. If it becomes law, the bill would make it easier to fire most employees and to deny them pay raises. While state workers and their unions are understandably wary of the changes, Florida residents should be as well. Employees who are insecure in their jobs are less likely to act in the public's best interests.

Despite the bill's complexity and implications, Republican leaders want to limit debate today and force a final House vote as early as Thursday. In fact, Republican House members approved that accelerated schedule before they had seen the final version of the bill, which was being rewritten by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, Tuesday morning. Diaz-Balart was meshing his bill with the wishes of Gov. Jeb Bush.

Give Bush credit for adding pay incentives and for not pushing more Draconian recommendations from the Council of 100, a group of Florida's most influential business leaders. The Council of 100 wanted every state employee to work "at will," meaning they could be fired without cause. The bill would move about 16,000 supervisory employees outside the civil service system with its protections.

A case can be made for Bush's effort to end "bumping," a process in which employees whose jobs are eliminated can take jobs already held by employees with less seniority. While bumping rewards seniority, it can also cause chaos when a department reorganizes or downsizes. Seniority should not be the only criterion in determining which people keep their jobs in such circumstances. Of course, good employees who lose their jobs because of reorganization should be allowed to fill vacancies or be given a reasonable severance package.

On nearly every other major change in the bill, however, future debate is needed. To fire a state employee now, the state must be able to prove "cause" from a list of specific actions or conduct. Under the bill, an employee could be fired at the "sound discretion of an agency head," and the burden of proof would shift to the employee, who would have to show an abuse of that discretion to keep his or her job. Some Democrats argue that such a change essentially puts every state employee on an "at will" status.

Republicans have unnecessarily added a political element to the bill by exempting employees in police and fire-fighting agencies from the burden-of-proof provisions. Those workers could be fired only for cause. Bush said they should be treated differently because they sometimes have to make instantaneous decisions. Yet the decisions made by many other workers -- in child protection and environmental regulation, for example -- are also vulnerable to second-guessing or political manipulation. It looks like Republicans could be protecting the unions that have politically supported the party.

Bush said employees could not be fired for patronage or party affiliation or be discriminated against, but that is often difficult for an employee to prove. At its worst, this part of the bill would deny employees their civil service protection, and that should be a concern for Bush and all Florida residents.

The bill also would undermine the role played by the Public Employee Relations Commission in hearing grievances from individual workers. The independent PERC, which has performed competently, would be replaced in the grievance process by an Office of Employee Relations, which would answer to the governor. State employees should have legitimate grievances heard by an independent board, not by the same branch of government that took action against them.

House members are not being given enough time or information to make informed decisions on these issues. The amendment process has been limited and only a couple of hours of debate will be allowed. Republican House leaders are doing state employees a disservice by rushing through this sweeping legislation. All sides need to be heard before the Legislature changes the civil service system. The quality of state government is at stake.

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