What Is Illegal for Employers to Do in Florida?

What are employers legally not allowed to do?

What is illegal for employers to do in Florida? An employer can end a job without giving a reason, but it cannot act on a reason the law forbids. Forbidden reasons include discrimination, retaliation for protected complaints, unpaid minimum wages, and certain pay practices.

This guide covers the main categories in plain terms:

• Discrimination based on race, color, and other protected traits
• Harassment tied to a protected trait
• Retaliation against workers who complain, object, or report
• Wage and hour violations
• Hiring and work eligibility rules
• Firing for protected reasons or protected absences
• The claims a worker can bring

Federal law and Florida law both reach many of these issues. Florida’s civil rights and whistleblower laws also set their own employer-size rules, so headcount matters. Owners and managers can use this guide to spot risk early.

Florida at-will employment and where its limits come from

Florida is an at-will state. That means an open-ended job can end at any time, and either side can end it for any reason. The Florida Supreme Court restated this rule in Gessner v. Southern Co., quoting its long-standing case law.

At-will does not mean anything goes. A Fourth District opinion in Laguerre v. Palm Beach Newspapers puts the boundary plainly. An at-will employee may be fired at any time, “as long as she is not terminated for a reason prohibited by law, such as retaliation or unlawful discrimination.”

The limits come from several places:

• Under Fla. Stat. § 760.02, the “Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992” means ss. 760.01-760.11 and 509.092.
• The Florida Private Whistleblower Act, which protects workers who object to or report violations, under Fla. Stat. § 448.102
• The state minimum wage rules in Article X, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution
• A written employment contract, which can set terms different from the at-will default

Read the contract before assuming the default rule applies.

Discrimination based on protected traits, including race and color

It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate based on race or color, along with several other traits. Florida law reaches firing, refusing to hire, and pay, scheduling, and other conditions of work.

Under Fla. Stat. § 760.10, the protected traits include race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, handicap, and marital status. The same statute bars job ads that show a preference based on those traits.

Coverage depends on size. Under Fla. Stat. § 760.02, an employer for these purposes employs 15 or more people for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding year.

Discrimination can be intentional, such as treating one worker worse because of race. It can also come from a neutral rule that hits one group much harder. Both can create exposure, and each situation turns on its own details.

Sexual harassment and other unlawful harassment

The trait does not have to be sex. Harassment based on race, religion, disability, or another listed trait can also violate the civil rights statute.

Harassment often takes two shapes. One is when job benefits or decisions get tied to unwelcome demands. The other is when the workplace becomes hostile enough to change the conditions of the job. Both can be a “discriminatory practice,” which means any practice made unlawful by the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992; the rule that bars discrimination in the “terms, conditions, or privileges” of work is in Fla. Stat. § 760.10(1)(a).

Many disputes turn on what the employer did after a report. Ignoring a complaint can make a bad situation worse. Prompt, documented responses tend to matter when a dispute reaches a lawyer or a court. Keep records of complaints, the steps taken, and the dates.

Retaliation against employees who complain, object, or file claims

Firing or punishing a worker for complaining about illegal conduct is unlawful retaliation in Florida. The Florida Private Whistleblower Act covers several kinds of protected activity.

Under Fla. Stat. § 448.102, an employer may not take any retaliatory personnel action against an employee because the employee has done any of the following: disclosed, or threatened to disclose, to any appropriate governmental agency, under oath, in writing, an activity, policy, or practice of the employer that is in violation of a law, rule, or regulation (which applies only if the employee has, in writing, brought the activity, policy, or practice to the attention of a supervisor or the employer and has afforded the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct it); provided information to, or testified before, any appropriate governmental agency, person, or entity conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry into an alleged violation of a law, rule, or regulation by the employer; or objected to, or refused to participate in, any activity, policy, or practice of the employer which is in violation of a law, rule, or regulation. For the agency report route, the worker must first raise the issue in writing with the employer and allow a reasonable chance to fix it.

The Act covers private employers with ten or more persons, under Fla. Stat. § 448.101. Florida also bars employers from firing, threatening, or coercing a worker over a valid workers’ compensation claim, under Fla. Stat. § 440.205.

A sudden schedule cut, a demotion, or a harsh review after a complaint can raise a retaliation question. Whether it does depends on the timing, the reasons given, and the facts.

Wage and hour violations, including the 7-minute rule

Florida’s minimum wage rules come from Article X, Section 24 of the state constitution. Employers may not retaliate against a worker for exercising those rights, including the right to file a complaint, under Fla. Stat. § 448.110.

Florida’s minimum wage amendment, Fla. Const. art. X, § 24, states that case law, administrative interpretations, and other guiding standards developed under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are intended to guide the construction of the amendment and any implementing statutes or regulations.

A prevailing worker recovers unpaid back wages plus the same amount as liquidated damages, along with reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, under Fla. Stat. § 448.110, unless the employer proves by a preponderance of the evidence good faith and reasonable grounds, in which case the court may, in its sound discretion, award no liquidated damages or an amount up to the unpaid minimum wages.

Common problems include off-the-clock work, unpaid overtime, and workers labeled as contractors who work like employees. Equal pay matters too. Under Fla. Stat. § 448.07, paying different rates by sex for equal work is prohibited, except when the payment is made under a seniority system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a differential based on a reasonable factor other than sex exercised in good faith. Under Fla. Stat. § 448.07, an employer is any person who employs two or more employees, and the section does not apply to any employer, labor organization or member thereof, or employee whose employer is subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended.

Hiring rules and employment eligibility verification

An employer may not keep employing a person it knows is not authorized to work. Under Fla. Stat. § 448.095, this rule applies once the employer has that knowledge.

The same statute covers verification. Under § 448.095(2)(d), an employer must retain a copy of the documentation and any official verification for at least 3 years.

Hiring questions can create trouble even when no one is hired.

Firing, leave, and protected absences

Even in an at-will state, firing someone for a reason the law forbids is unlawful. The key question is why the worker lost the job.

Several protected reasons matter. Examples include firing an employee because of a legally protected characteristic, because the employee raised a complaint or objection at work, or because the employee made or attempted a valid workers’ compensation claim.

Timing and paperwork often decide these disputes. A termination that follows a complaint or a leave request draws close scrutiny. Written records made at the time of the decision usually carry more weight than explanations given later.

What can you sue your employer for in Florida?

A worker may bring claims for discrimination, retaliation, unpaid minimum wages, and sex-based pay differences. Each claim has its own rules and its own clock.

Under the Florida Civil Rights Act, a civil action can seek back pay and compensatory damages for mental anguish and loss of dignity. Punitive damages are also possible, but the total for an aggrieved person may not exceed $100,000, under Fla. Stat. § 760.11. Before a civil suit, a charge is usually filed with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which states that the charge generally must be filed within 365 days of the alleged violation.

The civil rights statute sets suit deadlines. A civil action must be started within one year after a reasonable cause determination or a federal Notice of Right to Sue, whichever is earlier. If neither a reasonable cause determination nor a federal Notice of Right to Sue comes within 180 days of filing, the suit may be started within 18 months after filing.

For whistleblower claims, Fla. Stat. § 448.103 sets the deadline at two years after the worker discovers the action, or four years after it was taken, whichever is earlier. Remedies can include an injunction, reinstatement, lost wages, and other compensatory damages.

Breach of contract is a separate question. An employee handbook generally does not create binding contract rights unless it says so clearly. See Quaker Oats Co. v. Jewell.

Talking through a workplace situation with KEW Legal

If you’re facing one of these situations, you don’t have to sort out the law alone. Maybe you’re a manager who received a harassment complaint. Maybe you’re an employer whose business is handling a layoff shortly after an employee asked for leave. Maybe you’re an owner who just got a wage claim letter. Or maybe you’re trying to understand what happened to someone you care about at work.

KEW Legal is a Florida business law firm with offices in Coral Gables and Sunny Isles Beach. The firm acts as outside general counsel for business owners and investors across Miami-Dade and South Florida. Kristina E. Wilson is the responsible attorney for this page.

This page is general information. Every workplace situation turns on its own facts, so talk through yours with us. To take the next step, call 305-990-2300 or send us a message. The first consultation is free, confidential, and without obligation to continue (Spanish: consulta inicial gratuita, confidencial y sin compromiso).