Rebekah Jones v. Florida Department of Health, Joseph A. Ladapo, in his official capacity, and Shamarial Roberson, individually
The First District affirmed final summary judgments rejecting a high-profile public-sector whistleblower and First Amendment retaliation suit. The court held that Florida's public sector Whistle-blower's Act contains no cause of action for 'preemptive retaliation' — a plaintiff terminated before making a statutorily compliant written disclosure has no claim — because the Act is a limited waiver of sovereign immunity that must be strictly construed. It further held that a government employee's public statements about the very program she was assigned to manage are made as an employee rather than as a citizen and are therefore unprotected under Garcetti.
Key facts
- Rebekah Jones was hired by the Florida Department of Health in 2018 and in March 2020 was assigned to build and manage DOH's public COVID-19 Dashboard.
- Jones alleged that on April 26, 2020, Deputy Secretary Shamarial Roberson directed her to reconfigure county 'scorecard' reopening data by lowering infection rates and exempting smaller counties, which Jones treated as a directive to falsify data and refused.
- +2 more key facts with a free trial
Holdings
- Section 112.3187, Florida Statutes, does not recognize a claim for 'preemptive retaliation.' Because the statute prohibits adverse personnel action 'for disclosing' protected information…
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Why it matters
This is now the leading Florida appellate statement that the public-sector Whistle-blower's Act has no 'preemptive retaliation' theory, and it forecloses a workaround plaintiffs have used to salvage claims where… — full analysis with a trial
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