Legal Alerts

Florida Governor Approves Bill with New Limitations on Viewpoints, Concepts Employers May Present in Required Instruction

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (April 28, 2022) - On Friday, April 22, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 7 – known as the “Stop WOKE Act” – into law. “Stop WOKE” stands for “Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees.” The law prohibits classroom or workplace training and instruction that causes students or employees discomfort over their race, color, sex, or national origin.

While much of the discussion of the Stop WOKE Act has been focused on schools and classroom instruction, the new law will affect employers in the Sunshine State as well. It defines discrimination against individuals as training or lessons “as a condition of employment, membership, certification, licensing, credentialing, or passing an examination.”

Under the Act, Florida employers may not subject employees to training, instruction, or other required activities that “espouse[], promote[], advance[], inculcate[], or compel[] [employees] to believe” a number of listed concepts. This means that:

  1. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests that members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally superior to members of another.
  2. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests that an individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
  3. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests that an individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.
  4. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests people cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race, color, sex, or national origin.
  5. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests an individual bears responsibility for, or should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.
  6. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests an individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.
  7. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests an individual bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.
  8. Employers may not require training or instruction that suggests such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist, or were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another.

The Act provides that such instruction constitutes an unlawful employment practice that aggrieved employees may challenge through Florida’s existing administrative and civil remedial structure.

While much of the legal landscape occasioned by this new remains unclear, at this juncture, Florida employers should consider a second look at their training and instructional videos, materials, and written documentation. Training on the topics listed above is not banned outright, but must be “given in an objective manner without endorsement.” Indeed, that legal landscape may already be shifting as constitutional challenges have since been raised against the new law. Shortly after Governor DeSantis signed the Act, a group of plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, claiming that the Act violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

For more information on this new law, contact the authors of this alert. Visit our Labor & Employment Practice page for additional alerts in this area.

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