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Previous Updates
Minimum Wage Increase
Noncompete Agreements
Minimum Wage Increase
Human Trafficking
- Acupuncture;
- Medical practice;
- Osteopathic medicine;
- Chiropractic medicine;
- Podiatric medicine;
- Optometry;
- Pharmacy;
- Dentistry;
- Nursing home administration;
- Occupational therapy;
- Respiratory therapy;
- Dietetics and nutrition practices;
- Massage therapy practices; and
- Physical therapy practices.
- A massage establishment must implement a procedure for reporting suspected human trafficking to the Florida Human Trafficking Hotline.
- Individuals under 21 are no longer able to be employed by an adult entertainment establishment in any role.
Minimum Wage Increase
Minimum Wage Increase
Need compensation consulting? Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
Minimum Wage Increase
Need compensation consulting? Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
Human Trafficking Signage
- Acupuncture;
- Medical practice;
- Osteopathic medicine;
- Chiropractic medicine;
- Podiatric medicine;
- Optometry;
- Pharmacy;
- Dentistry;
- Nursing home administration;
- Occupational therapy;
- Respiratory therapy;
- Dietetics and nutrition practices;
- Massage therapy practices; and
- Physical therapy practices.
Digital Bill of Rights
Child Labor
Child Labor Updated Rules
- Under the new law, 16- and 17-year-olds will be allowed to work more than 30 hours per week when school is in session if a parent, guardian, or school superintendent fills out a waiver provided by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and provides it to the employer.
- The new law also allows minors aged 16 and up to work more than eight hours a day on holidays and Sundays during the school year.
- Further, teens who are homeschooled or attend virtual school are permitted to work during school hours.
- Finally, the bill establishes 30-minute break requirements every four hours for teens working more than eight hours per day. The law continues to enforce civil fines of up to $2,500 per offense, and violations may even extend to criminal penalties amounting to a second-degree misdemeanor.
Minimum Wage Increase
Effective September 30, 2023, the minimum wage in Florida increases to $12.00 per hour, with regular $1 increases through 2026 to $15.00 an hour. Florida employers are allowed to take a tip credit of up to $3.02 per hour for tipped employees. The updated poster is available here.
Minimum Wage Increase
Need compensation consulting? Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
Minimum Wage Increase
Need compensation consulting? Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
E-Verify Requirement
- Using the federal E-Verify system; or
- Collecting and retaining Form I-9, including copies of identity and work authorization documents provided by the employee for I-9 certification.
Allows Permitless Concealed Carry of Weapons
E-Verify and Immigration Law
COVID-19 Related Discrimination Prohibited
Further, it prohibits discrimination against an individual for refusing vaccination, testing, or face coverings. However, the face covering provisions do not apply to a health care provider or health care practitioner or when a face covering is required safety equipment.
Effective July 1, 2023, Florida allows individuals to carry a concealed weapon or concealed firearm without a permit or license unless the individual is otherwise prohibited from carrying a firearm under state or federal law.
Carrying a concealed weapon or concealed firearm remains prohibited in certain specified locations, and employers may still create weapons policies to limit or prevent individuals from bringing concealed weapons to company premises.
Open carry of weapons remains prohibited. Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant for guidance on this law in the workplace.
Gainesville Fair Chance Ordinance
The Gainesville City Commission has adopted a Fair Chance Ordinance that will impact private employers. The ordinance applies to employers with fifteen (15) or more employees whose primary work location is in the City of Gainesville for each working day in each of twenty (20) or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.1 This includes agencies acting on an employer’s behalf. There are limited exceptions to the employer definition, such as a daycare or other care facility.
Under the ordinance, employers may not:
- Publish information about a job that states or implies an individual’s criminal history automatically disqualifies them from consideration.
- Solicit or otherwise inquire about criminal history in an employment application.
- Solicit or consider criminal history unless a conditional offer of employment has been extended (employers may explain, in writing, the individualized assessment system used to consider criminal history).
- Note: a staffing agency may solicit and use criminal history information when it has identified a job for the individual or placed the individual in a staffing pool.
- Refuse to employ or consider employing an individual because they did not provide criminal history information prior to a conditional offer.
- Take adverse action against an individual due to criminal history unless the employer has determined the person is unsuitable for the job based on an individualized assessment.
- Individualized assessment includes considering, at a minimum: the nature and gravity of the offenses, the length of time since the offense and sentence completion, and the nature and duties of the position.
The ordinance does not apply to any job/employment for which a federal, state, or local law or compliance with legally mandated insurance or bond requirement disqualifies an individual based on criminal history. The Office of Equity and Inclusion is responsible for enforcing the Fair Chance Ordinance.
Miami Beach Prohibits Hair Discrimination
Minimum Wage Increase
Effective September 30, 2022 the minimum wage in Florida increases from $10 per hour to $11 per hour. Florida employers are allowed to take a tip credit of up to $3.02 per hour for tipped employees.
The poster (when released) is available here.
Minimum Wage
The Individual Freedom Act – also known as the Stop WOKE Act – banned workplace trainings from teaching that anyone is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” or that anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race, color, sex or national origin. It also made it illegal to have mandatory trainings that promoted such concepts.
The injunction blocks the enforcement of the law’s provisions affecting private employers and does not apply to trainings in public schools. The state could appeal the ruling to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals or seek a trial to reverse the injunction.
Minimum Wage Increase
The minimum wage in Florida increases from $10 per hour to $11 per hour on September 30, 2022. Florida employers are allowed to take a tip credit of up to $3.02 per hour for tipped employees. Plan ahead to adjust your pay practices accordingly.
Need compensation consulting? Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
Employers That Support Independent Contractors in Emergencies
Effective July 1, 2022, Florida law shields employers from independent contractor misclassification lawsuits when they take certain actions performed during a public health emergency or a state of emergency declared by the governor, such as:
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Providing financial assistance to previously engaged individuals- meaning individuals who provide a good or service to a business or on behalf of a business and who are remunerated for the good or service regardless of the individual's classification as an employee or independent contractor - who are unable to work because of health and safety concerns;
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Directly providing benefits that are related to the health and safety of engaged individuals, including medical or cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, health checks, or medical testing;
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Providing training or information related to the health and safety of engaged individuals or the public; and
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Taking any action - including action required or suggested by any federal, state or local law, ordinance, order or directive - that is intended to protect public health and safety.
You can learn more about this legislation and view the bill’s summary here.
You can also learn more about employees vs. independent contractors at MyFrankCrum, My Resources. You can view the independent contractor vs. employee document under HR Resources and the webinar under Webinars - Training.
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Stop WOKE Act
The Governor has signed The Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act (dubbed the Stop WOKE Act). The Act applies to all public and private Florida employers who are subject to the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) (those who employ 15 or more employees).
Effective July 1, 2022, the Stop WOKE Act makes it an unlawful employment practice to subject any individual as a condition of employment to training, instruction or any other required activity that promotes or compels them to believe that any of the following concepts constitute discrimination based on race, color, sex or national origin:
- Members of one race, color, sex or national origin are morally superior to another race, color, sex or national origin.
- Individuals by virtue of their race, color, sex or national origin bear 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.
- Individuals by virtue of their race, color, sex or national origin should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity or inclusion.
- Individuals must feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of actions in which the individual played no part that were committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex or national origin.
- Such virtues as a 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.
The Act states, though, that it should not be construed to ban the discussion of these concepts - provided such training or instruction is given in an objective manner without endorsement of the concepts. Also, the Act does not appear to apply to completely voluntary trainings and discussions of these concepts, even if facilitated by the employer.
Employers may still require trainings designed to promote diversity and inclusion awareness, as well as those designed to prevent discrimination in the workplace, but employers need to be sure to conduct such trainings in an objective manner that cannot be construed as compelling, promoting, or advancing certain beliefs tied to prohibited concepts under the Act.
Employers should monitor any developments impacting the new law’s application and implementation, including a pending legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Act, filed when the Act was signed by the Governor.
Emergency Rule and Additional Guidance Regarding Vaccine Law
The Florida Department of Legal Affairs has issued an emergency rule and other additional guidance regarding the recently enacted HB-1B (vaccine mandate exemption law) signed by Governor DeSantis on November 19th, 2021. The law, which applies to employers of all sizes, took effect immediately upon signing by the Governor, and the private employer provisions will remain in effect until June 1, 2023 unless otherwise extended.
The law requires private employers who mandate COVID-19 vaccination in the workplace to recognize additional exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination requirements, in addition to what is required under federal law. Private employers are prohibited from implementing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for employees without exemptions for medical reasons, religious reasons, immunity, periodic testing and personal protective equipment (PPE). The Florida Department of Health has posted exemption statement forms for use here.
The Florida Department of Legal Affairs recently released their Notice of Emergency Rule and it addresses:
- definition of “employee” and “independent contractor” for determining whether such an individual is not covered by the law or is in fact a covered employee;
- defines the “functional equivalent of termination” as being found “when it is determined that (i) the employee resigned under duress; or (ii) the employer, through its actions, made working conditions so difficult or intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would feel compelled to resign”;
- establishes a web-based form for reporting violations of the law (the form may also be emailed or mailed to the Department); and
- sets forth more detailed procedural rules for the Department for receiving, investigating, and adjudicating complaints.
To view the new Private Employer Vaccine Mandate Program FAQs click here.
Vaccine Mandates Restricted
As noted previously in a FrankCrum news alert, Governor DeSantis has signed into law measures that restrict COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Private employers are prohibited from implementing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for employees without the following exemptions:
- Medical reasons, as determined by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant, which include for reasons of pregnancy or anticipated pregnancy.
- Religions reasons, because of a “sincerely held religious belief”.
- Immunity, shown by “competent medical evidence”, which is documented by the results of a lab test.
- Periodic testing, at no cost to the employee. No testing period is specified.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which the employer would provide. PPE is not defined.
The legislation directs the state Department of Health to specify additional details, such as testing frequency, and to provide exemption statement forms for the five exemptions. The Department has posted the forms and they are available here.
The law is not an outright prohibition on vaccine mandates. Private employers can still have a vaccine mandate, as long as the exemptions are offered. The law does not prohibit employers from requiring testing, face coverings, or other measures to address possible workplace infections. Additionally, the law prohibits employers from implementing a policy that prohibits an employee from receiving a vaccination.
Minimum Wage Increase
As a reminder, the minimum wage in Florida increases to $10.00 per hour on September 30, 2021. Florida employers are allowed to take a tip credit of up to $3.02 per hour for tipped employees. Click here for an updated posting.
Independent Contractor Reporting
As previously communicated in a FrankCrum News Alert, effective October 1, 2021, Florida businesses are required to submit reports for their independent contractors paid $600 or more in a calendar year. The business must submit new hire information within 20 days after their first payment to the independent contractor or the date on which the business and independent contractor entered into the contract, whichever is earlier. For example, a business contracts with a painter to paint their offices on October 10th and 1st payment to the painter is on October 17th – information must be submitted within 20 days of October 10th. Governor DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 1532 which requires any “service recipient” in Florida to submit a report to the State Directory of New Hires for each individual who is not an employee but is nonetheless paid $600 or more per calendar year for services. Previously, reporting of independent contractors by a business was optional.
To register, click here.
To access the manual form, click here.
Questions on reporting: Call the Florida New Hire Reporting Center at (850) 656-3343 or Toll-Free 1 (888) 854-4791 or email newhiresupport@floridarevenue.com.
Given that the state will have increased access to independent contractor information, businesses should consider reviewing their worker classifications to ensure that their independent contractors are properly classified. Click here for a guide.
Minimum Wage Increases
Minimum Wage Increases
Effective September 30, 2021, the minimum wage in Florida increases from $8.65 per hour to $10.00 per hour. Florida employers are allowed to take a tip credit of up to $3.02 per hour for tipped employees. Plan ahead to adjust your payment practices accordingly. Need compensation consulting? Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
Minimum Wage Increases
By a margin of more than 2.2 million votes (about 60% to 40%), Florida citizens have approved a ballot initiative that will raise the state's minimum wage to $15.00 over the next several years, as follows:
January 1, 2021 - $8.65 (under an already-scheduled inflation adjustment);
September 30, 2021 - $10.00;
September 30, 2022 - $11.00;
September 30, 2023 - $12.00;
September 30, 2024 - $13.00;
September 30, 2025 - $14.00;
September 30, 2026 - $15.00; and
January 1, 2028, and every January 1 thereafter - Adjusted for inflation.
Florida joins seven states - California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York - that are on a path to a $15.00 minimum wage. Several localities - including the District of Columbia, Seattle and many cities and towns in California - also are on a path to a $15.00 minimum wage or have already surpassed it.
E-Verify for Florida Employers
As a reminder, some Florida employers will need to start using E-Verify as of January 1, 2021. Click here for information.
Florida's New Mandatory E-Verify Law
Effective 01/01/2021 the State of Florida requires all public employers, including local school districts, public universities and colleges, and state and local agencies, as well as their private contractors, to use E-Verify.
- Every public employer, contractor, and subcontractors in Florida must enroll in and use E-Verify to confirm eligibility for all NEW employees.
- No public contract can be entered into without an E-Verify certificate. Any subcontractor must provide the contractor with an affidavit, which must be retained by the contractor the duration of the contract. The affidavit must state the subcontractor does not employ, contract with, or subcontract with unauthorized aliens. This is needed for all public projects.
- Private employers are not required to use E-Verify unless they have a contract with a public employer or they have applied for tax payer funded incentives through the Department of Economic Opportunity.
- All employers must complete and maintain “I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification” forms for the duration of employment and for at least one year after employee is terminated or three years from hire, whichever is later under Federal law. In addition, new Florida law requires any private employer who does not use E-Verify to maintain copies of documents from the I-9 for 3 years.
Next Steps before the deadline:
Florida public employers and those who bid on public contracts should be ready to comply with the new law by updating their onboarding and new hire practices.
Private employers who chose not to E-Verify should continue to complete and maintain I-9 verification records and retain copies of documents that were reviewed. The enforcement procedures under the new mandate are significant and failure to comply could result in suspension or termination of your business license.
- FrankCrum will be happy to register your company with E-Verify so you may have the Company ID number assigned and documents your public contract may require and to remain in compliance with the new law. The cost is $4.00-$6.00 per new hire on the contract. If you would like us to provide the service for you, please reach out to our Business Affairs team at: legal@frankcrum.com
- You may also choose to E-Verify for your company free of charge. You will need to register your company on the E-Verify website, watch a tutorial, and take a short test to complete registration. Your payroll representative will need the E-Verification report attached to the I-9 or the E-Verify confirmation number written at the top of the I-9 when you submit new hire paperwork.
We would like to remind our clients the E-Verify & I-9 compliance is your responsibility, not FrankCrum’s. Please act now to ensure you are in compliance as of January 1, 2021.
Effective 01/01/2021 the State of Florida requires all public employers, including local school districts, public universities and colleges, and state and local agencies, as well as their private contractors, to use E-Verify.
- Every public employer, contractor, and subcontractors in Florida must enroll in and use E-Verify to confirm eligibility for all NEW employees.
- No public contract can be entered into without an E-Verify certificate. Any subcontractor must provide the contractor with an affidavit, which must be retained by the contractor the duration of the contract. The affidavit must state the subcontractor does not employ, contract with, or subcontract with unauthorized aliens. This is needed for all public projects.
- Private employers are not required to use E-Verify unless they have a contract with a public employer or they have applied for tax payer funded incentives through the Department of Economic Opportunity.
- All employers must complete and maintain “I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification” forms for the duration of employment and for at least one year after employee is terminated or three years from hire, whichever is later under Federal law. In addition, new Florida law requires any private employer who does not use E-Verify to maintain copies of documents from the I-9 for 3 years.
Next Steps before the deadline:
Florida public employers and those who bid on public contracts should be ready to comply with the new law by updating their onboarding and new hire practices.
Private employers who chose not to E-Verify should continue to complete and maintain I-9 verification records and retain copies of documents that were reviewed. The enforcement procedures under the new mandate are significant and failure to comply could result in suspension or termination of your business license.
- FrankCrum will be happy to register your company with E-Verify so you may have the Company ID number assigned and documents your public contract may require and to remain in compliance with the new law. The cost is $4.00-$6.00 per new hire on the contract. If you would like us to provide the service for you, please reach out to our Business Affairs team at: legal@frankcrum.com
- You may also choose to E-Verify for your company free of charge. You will need to register your company on the E-Verify website, watch a tutorial, and take a short test to complete registration. Your payroll representative will need the E-Verification report attached to the I-9 or the E-Verify confirmation number written at the top of the I-9 when you submit new hire paperwork.
We would like to remind our clients the E-Verify & I-9 compliance is your responsibility, not FrankCrum’s. Please act now to ensure you are in compliance as of January 1, 2021.
Shortened Statute of Limitations on FCRA Claims
The statute of limitations for a charge under the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 (FCRA) has shortened to one year vs. four years previously. Individuals now have one year to file a civil action in circumstances where the Florida Commission on Human Relations is unable to conciliate a charge or make a reasonable cause determination within 180 days of the charge’s filing.
