TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- An appellate court says Florida's whistleblower protection law doesn't apply to a local government worker who was laid off after he complained about his pay to a federal agency.

A three judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that the law would have been triggered only if the Panama City Housing Authority employee had complained to the agency's chief executive or "other appropriate local official."

Kenneth Quintini, instead, complained to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that he wasn't being paid the same as other maintenance workers.

Quintini was laid off in 2008 about five months after he filed the complaint.

The court ruled in Tallahassee that the law's language is clear and doesn't include complaints to federal or state agencies.