Labor and Employment Law Overview: Florida

However, this doesn’t mean that there are no protections whatsoever against this behavior. There are still laws that regulate unfair treatment and potential discrimination in the workplace that may be a cause for pursuing legal action against the employer.

If the firing was based on comments relating to a person’s race, religion, sex, or gender, for example, then they may be liable for a direct discrimination lawsuit. Moreover, if there is evidence of discriminatory treatment during working hours, this is also a case for legal action.

Furthermore, whistleblower protection laws exist under federal law, protecting employees from being fired as retaliation for reports made through a whistleblowing system. If it has to do with personal comments or false accusations about an employee’s character, then defamation lawsuits are also applicable.

Under federal law, employers in Florida are not permitted to fire anyone that has taken a protected action. These range from military duty, medical leave, court proceedings, refusal to participate in illegal activity, and exercising their right to free speech.

Any of the above mentioned situations are suitable for taking legal recourse.

What Are the 5 Major Kinds of Employment Laws?

There is no official classification of employment laws since they all differ in the types of protection they give to employees and what they regulate on a federal or state level.

However, potential employees should be familiar with the five major types of employment laws to get a better scope of their working conditions, potential pay, leave, as well as the possible legal action they can take in cases of violations.

1. National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

The NLRA protects employees from being disciplined, demoted, or fired in cases where they negatively comment on the working conditions of a business. While this is known as a union-only law, it is applicable on a federal level for every company in the U.S.

This makes it explicitly illegal for any employer to take action against an employee who uses their free speech to either initiate talks on the working conditions, their pay, etc., or speak negatively about the employer in question.

2. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

The FMLA provides certain employees up to 12 weeks of guaranteed unpaid leave per year. It’s also applicable to employees who need to care for themselves or a family member while sick. Moreover, this can be used in cases of childbirth or in cases where the employee is in the process of adopting or fostering a child.

However, this only applies to companies with over 50 employees. Employers do not get to decide whether they approve these requests, rather they are obliged to do so. They also must be held accountable to HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ) compliance policies if they breach employee privacy by disclosing protected health information during this process.

3. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA is applicable for businesses with 15 or more employees. This act protects employees with disabilities from unfair treatment.

The protection is twofold. One, it means that a business cannot discriminate against an employee in the process of hiring, working, or firing. Two, it means that businesses must comply by providing adequate accommodation to disabled workers if it is needed during their working hours.

4. Title VII

Title VII is a provision within the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, nationality, or pregnancy in any instance of employment. It applies to businesses with 15 or more employees. The classes mentioned are considered “protected persons” under Title VII and they may seek legal action if an employer refuses to hire them.

Unlike the above mentioned laws, this legislation goes more in-depth into how exactly an employer may violate it. Specifically, it begins from the refusal to employ persons with “foreign” names and ends with refusing to offer benefits to a protected person. This means that the entire process, from considering a candidate to offering them employee-specific promotions, is protected on a federal level.

5. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

The ADEA works to expand on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It’s important to note that protected persons under the ADEA are not considered “protected persons” under Title VII. It is stand-alone legislation, not an expansion of the Civil Rights Act.

The main purpose of this Act is to protect people who are over 40 in the employment process. This includes protecting people from any age-related comments, setting arbitrary age limits for employment, and putting a candidate in the hiring process at a disadvantage based on their age.

Moreover, this includes unfair workplace treatment of people over 40 based on discriminatory stereotypes and the refusal to promote or reward them because of their age.

Workers’ Compensation Immunity

On a federal level, the answer for appropriate compensation lies in workers’ compensation immunity, which is protected under various worker compensation laws. Specifically, the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, for which all non-military federal personnel are eligible.

It was originally intended to be a faster and less economically straining way of receiving compensation for negligent behavior from employers. Instead of going directly to court, which can take a lot of money, resources, and time, the various workers’ compensation laws are meant to facilitate the same process without the need for seeking proof. With this, workers who have been wronged by their employers can seek compensation for any medical expenses or lost wages.

Due to the practice of high fees abuse in these compensation cases, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that attorneys cannot receive anything other than a “reasonable” fee from the employees in question during these cases. This makes the process significantly less expensive as opposed to private court proceedings.

However, this is only applicable in circumstances where an employer has caused physical injury. More importantly, this means that pursuing compensation means an agreement not to pursue a personal claim for negligence in the workplace, which bars the employee from being able to seek fair compensation in cases where they deem the initial amount too low.

Personal Litigation Against Employers

The Florida Statutes for worker compensation in cases of private litigation against an employer encompass a set of very limited circumstances.

These include a high degree of certainty that any injury, malice, or negligence was caused by the employer. In fact, the wording makes it so that any employee who is seeking damages must be “virtually certain” that the employer wanted the circumstance to result in injury, that that knowledge is based on “similar accidents” within the company, and that the risk was more than apparent.

On top of this, the employee must prove that they could not have been aware of the danger and that the employer deliberately did not disclose information about the risk at hand. All of this must be “clearly demonstrated” with “convincing evidence” since the burden of proof lies on the applicant.

It’s also vital to know that an employee who has been compensated by any workers’ compensation act bars any other employee from pursuing legal action for the same incident.

The Bottom Line

If you’re planning to work for a Florida company—whether in-person or remotely via conference calling and the like—or are currently employed under Florida law, these are some labor laws to take into consideration.

While federal laws are applicable regardless of your location, some state laws may bar employees from taking specific actions or enjoying certain privileges, so it’s important to know the difference between the two. Moreover, some municipal laws and company-based laws may result in different treatment—this, however, should never be discriminatory.