USF faculty sue BOG, BOT over law banning arbitration in employment disputes
Three laid-off USF faculty members, along with the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) and its USF chapter, have sued the state’s Board of Governors and USF’s Board of Trustees over a new state law that gives university presidents the final say in employee disputes, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs targeted a part of the new law, titled Senate Bill 266, that eliminated arbitration in employment disputes, according to the lawsuit.
Faculty initially had the right to take their disputes before an arbitrator, or a neutral third party that would help settle disputes between opposing parties outside of court. The three faculty members who were laid off, David Braasch, Tamara McLaughlin and Lisana Mohamed, were denied this option upon their termination, the lawsuit said.
The faculty members were laid off effective Aug. 4.
The plaintiffs argued the law is violating their contractual rights as faculty members, according to the lawsuit.
“The Individual Plaintiffs also have individual employment contracts…with the University of South Florida, for which they have each worked for more than a decade,” the lawsuit read. “The Employment Contracts have no expiration date and may be terminated only through specific procedures.”
The lawsuit said that as members of the UFF and UFF-USF, the Individual Plaintiffs were “guaranteed a right to arbitrate adverse personnel decisions before a neutral arbiter.”
The plaintiffs also argued the president isn’t a neutral party, and there is no “legitimate reason” for this law to be enacted other than political motivations, the lawsuit said.
“The only justification for the Arbitration Ban that the State has asserted is that it makes it easier for university presidents—who are selected by political appointees—to replace existing professors with others more in line with that president’s political views,” the lawsuit read.
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