Florida’s Public Employees Relations Commission ruled that Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott broke the law when he offered bonuses to non-union sergeants right before a vote to disband the sergeants’ union.
The state panel ruled that Scott engaged in “unfair labor practices” when he offered $2,500 in bonuses to each non-union member of his department.
The sergeants eventually voted to do away with their union by a large margin, but union officials claim there was foul play.
The commission eventually sided with the unions and now Scott has to schedule another vote. He was also told by officials to not interfere with the next vote.
Rich Roberts, the director of the International Union of Police Associations, says the commission made the right move.
“It was, you know, blatantly obvious that he interfered with the election in violation of labor laws,” Roberts says. “He offered the bonus in advance of the election and only offered them to non-union personnel.”
However, Scott says he didn’t set out to do anything wrong. He says the timing of the bonus had more to do with a deadline given to him by the county than the impending vote.
“The fact that the two occurred within some proximity to each other, I can see how someone would say ‘Well, gee whiz, maybe he is doing the bonus just for that,’” Scott explains. “The bonus was part of the budget process. We had to tell the commission what we were going to do with that.”
Scott also says negotiating union members were ineligible for the bonus.
