IAFF General Secretary-Treasurer Sues Los Angeles

IAFF General Secretary-Treasurer Frank Líma, along with the IAFF and the United Firefighters of Los Angeles – IAFF Local 112, have filed suit against the City of Los Angeles and two chief officers alleging that a reprimand he received violated his First Amendment rights and the California Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights. The suit was filed today in US District Court for the Central District of California.

Besides serving as IAFF general-secretary, GST Líma is a captain with LAFD. The discipline stems from an off-duty incident explained in the complaint as follows:

• On June 22, 2023, GST Líma participated in a peaceful, permitted rally near the Los Angeles International Airport in support of hotel workers engaged in a labor dispute with their employers.
• Numerous religious leaders, community leaders, labor leaders, and political leaders from the Los Angeles area also participated in the rally.
• GST Líma, who was at all material times off-duty from the LAFD, attended the rally as a private citizen and as a union and community leader.
• He was among hundreds of people arrested at the rally, including legislators, labor leaders, and clergy.
• At no time has GST Líma been charged with a crime, indicted for an alleged crime, or convicted of a crime.

GST Líma duly reported the arrest, and despite the fact he was never charged and in custody for less than 10 minutes before he was released, he was issued a written reprimand approximately one year after the incident. According to the complaint:

• By imposing discipline on GST Líma pursuant to their policies and procedures, Defendants violated his rights under federal and state law, including his First Amendment rights.
• The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment protects the speech of public employees if they speak as citizens on a matter of public concern.
• The California Constitution offers similar protections.
• Meanwhile, California labor law prevents an arrest without a conviction from being considered for disciplinary purposes and protects fire fighters’ right to engage in political activity.
• By imposing discipline on GST Líma pursuant to their policies and procedures, Defendants also violated the rights of IAFF members in the United States and UFLAC members in Los Angeles under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and the California Constitution as it chills their interest in participating in protected speech and associational conduct.
• The existence of this discipline will adversely impact GST Líma’s promotional opportunities within the LAFD, and therefore his earning potential, and also serve as the basis for harsher discipline to be imposed on him by the LAFD in the future, including unpaid suspensions or even discharge.
• Throughout his years of service with LAFD, GST Líma has been the first in his class to be promoted to higher level positions.
• The existence of the improperly imposed discipline will impede and adversely impact his promotional opportunities within the LAFD because discipline is a factor in promotional decisions.
• Attending rallies to support working people — including fire fighters, City employees, and employees of private organizations — in their attempts to better their working conditions is central to the purpose of IAFF and UFLAC.
• The discipline of GST Líma has caused other UFLAC members to raise questions and concerns about the application of this official policy, practice, or custom maintained by the Defendants to their own activities.
• At the June 2024 meeting of the UFLAC Executive Board, members of the Executive Board shared these concerns directly with GST Líma and conveyed their concern that they and other UFLAC members could be put at risk for exercising their own rights to engage in conduct like his — i.e., speaking out about matters of public concern, participating in peaceful protests or public demonstrations, and other such conduct protected under the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the California Labor Code.

IAFF Local 112 filed a grievance over the discipline. However given the prior restraint and speech chilling aspects of the discipline, the plaintiffs opted to move forward. The complaint includes ten counts, four alleging violations of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and freedom of association requirements; four alleging the same violations of the California state constitution; an allegation alleging a violation of the California Labor Code; and a violation of the California Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights, which “assures the right of off duty fire fighters to engage in political activity. CAL. GOV’T CODE § 3252(a).”

Here is a copy of the complaint: