By REID TUCKER
The Florida Police Benevolent Association issued a formal request for a grievance hearing with the city of DeFuniak Springs after DFSPD officers Anthony Kaiser and Rick Boblitt were terminated for racial harassment of another officer.
Kaiser and Boblitt were fired Wednesday, June 3, after an internal affairs investigation upheld allegations made by officer Chuwan Boros that the two men had variously engaged in racial harassment and failed to report it, even though the harassment had been ongoing since at least 2012. The Florida Police Benevolent Association, the state’s law enforcement labor union, filed its request on June 10 for a grievance hearing at the more serious “step 2,” citing Police Chief Mark Weeks’ decision to fire Kaiser and Boblitt without first conducting a pre-termination hearing with the former officers. A pre-termination hearing, otherwise known as a Loudermill hearing, is intended to give an employee the opportunity to present their side of the story and is part of the due process requirement that must be provided to government employees before their employer makes a disciplinary decision.
The Florida PBA is expected to raise a number of issues with the city over the termination of Kaiser and Boblitt, but Association representatives reached by phone would not make specific comments as to the particulars of those issues. They said only that the PBA would contest the disciplinary actions taken against Kaiser and Boblitt through the grievance process. No time has yet been given for the grievance hearing meeting, but City Manager Bowers said the matter is currently being deliberated by the respective attorneys for the city and Florida PBA.
General Counsel Hal Johnson is the Florida PBA’s lead legal representative for this and all other disciplinary representation actions in the state.
An April 27 vote by the DeFuniak Springs City Council returned hiring and firing authority back to the city manager, whereas before such decisions had to be brought before the Council at public meetings. The Council members returned a 4-1 vote in favor of the motion to re-grant this authority to the city manager, with only Councilmen Kermit Wright voting against it on the grounds that termination proceedings were given greater transparency when conducted in public. Wright said at the meeting that he was in favor of having the Council make decisions to hire or fire in order to avoid getting in the middle of conflicts between department heads and employees.
Bowers approved Weeks’ recommendation to terminate Kaiser and Boblitt based on the “hostile work environment” endured by Boros, who, it was determined over the course of the internal affairs investigation, had been subject to being called racial slurs over a period of several years before making an official complaint. The harassment was in violation of DeFuniak Springs Personnel Policy Section 10.2, which says the city is “committed to providing a work environment that is free from harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, or disability.” Further, the policy states that the city will maintain an environment where workers treat each other with “respect, dignity, and courtesy” and that any behavior that creates a hostile environment is considered unlawful harassment.
The internal affairs investigation that resulted in the termination of Kaiser and Boblitt was conducted by the DFSPD itself, and not by the city as was proposed as one option following Boros’ complaint against his former supervisor and coworker. Some of the current and former employees interviewed during the investigation (the documentation of which was obtained via public records request) said Boros and Boblitt would engage in back-and-forth name-calling. Some did not know if these comments upset Boros, while others said it was clear to them that Boros was indeed upset by the exchanges, and still others said the comments between the two men did not appear to be malicious in intent. A few interviewees said that Boblitt’s comments were made in the presence of Kaiser, with one such interviewee saying that Kaiser “just laughed” at the comments.
The DeFuniak Herald will continue to cover this story as it develops.
