F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
HB 599 2024
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to gender identity employment
3 practices; creating s. 110.1051, F.S.; providing
4 definitions; specifying an employment policy of the
5 state relating to a person's sex; providing
6 applicability; prohibiting employees and contractors
7 of certain employers from being required to use, from
8 providing, and from being asked to provide certain
9 titles and pronouns; prohibiting employees and
10 contractors from being penalized or subjected to
11 certain actions for not providing certain titles and
12 pronouns; prohibiting adverse personnel action on the
13 basis of deeply held religious or biology-based
14 beliefs; providing administrative and civil remedies;
15 authorizing the Department of Management Services to
16 adopt rules; amending s. 760.10, F.S.; providing that
17 it is an unlawful employment practice for a nonprofit
18 organization and certain employers to require certain
19 training, instruction, or activity as a condition of
20 employment; defining the term "nonprofit
21 organization"; reenacting s. 760.11(1) and (15), F.S.,
22 relating to administrative and civil remedies, to
23 incorporate the amendment made to s. 760.10, F.S., in
24 references thereto; providing an effective date.
25
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HB 599 2024
26 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
27
28 Section 1. Section 110.1051, Florida Statutes, is created
29 to read:
30 110.1051 Personal titles and pronouns.—
31 (1) As used in this section, the term:
32 (a) "Adverse personnel action" means the discharge ,
33 suspension, transfer, or demotion of an employee or a contractor
34 or the withholding of bonuses, the reduction in salary or
35 benefits, or any other adverse action taken against an employee
36 or a contractor within the terms and conditions of employment by
37 an employer.
38 (b) "Contractor" means an individual, partnership,
39 corporation, or business entity that enters or attempts to enter
40 into a contract for services with an employer.
41 (c) "Employee" means an individual employed by, or
42 attempting to be employed by, an employer.
43 (d) "Employer" means the state or any county,
44 municipality, or special district or any subdivision or agency
45 thereof.
46 (e) "Sex" means the classification of a person as either
47 female or male based on the organization of the body of such
48 person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the
49 person's sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and
50 internal and external genitalia present at birth.
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51 (2) It is the policy of the state that a person's sex is
52 an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to
53 a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person's
54 sex. This section does not apply to individuals born with a
55 genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex
56 development, including, but not limited to, 46, XX disorder of
57 sex development; 46, XY disorder of sex development; sex
58 chromosome disorder of sex development; XX or XY sex reversal;
59 and ovotesticular disorder.
60 (3) An employee or a contractor may not be required, as a
61 condition of employment, to refer to another person using that
62 person's preferred personal title or pronouns if such personal
63 title or pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex.
64 (4) An employee or a contractor may not provide to an
65 employer his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such
66 preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or
67 her sex.
68 (5) An employee or a contractor may not be asked by an
69 employer to provide his or her preferred personal title or
70 pronouns or be penalized or subjected to adverse personnel
71 action for not providing his or her preferred personal title or
72 pronouns.
73 (6)(a) It is an unlawful employment practice for an
74 employer to take adverse personnel action against an employee or
75 a contractor because of the employee's or contractor's deeply
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76 held religious or biology-based beliefs, including a belief in
77 traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or the
78 employee's or contractor's disagreement with gender ideology,
79 whether those views are expressed by the employee or contractor
80 at or away from the worksite.
81 (b) An employee or a contractor aggrieved by a violation
82 of this subsection may avail himself or herself to the
83 administrative and civil remedies provided in s. 760.11.
84 (7) The Department of Management Services may adopt rules
85 to administer this section.
86 Section 2. Subsections (10) and (11) of section 760.10,
87 Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (11) and (12),
88 respectively, and a new subsection (10) is added to that
89 section, to read:
90 760.10 Unlawful employment practices.—
91 (10) It is an unlawful employment practice for a nonprofit
92 organization or an employer who receives funding from the state
93 to require, as a condition of employment, any training,
94 instruction, or other activity on sexual orientation, gender
95 identity, or gender expression. For purposes of this subsection,
96 the term "nonprofit organization" means any organization that is
97 exempt from taxation pursuant to 26 U.S.C. s. 501, or any
98 federal, state, or local governmental entity.
99 Section 3. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment
100 made by this act to section 760.10, Florida Statutes, in a
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101 reference thereto, Subsections (1) and (15) of section 760.11,
102 Florida Statutes, are reenacted to read:
103 760.11 Administrative and civil remedies; construction. —
104 (1) Any person aggrieved by a violation of ss. 760.01-
105 760.10 may file a complaint with the commission within 365 days
106 of the alleged violation, naming the employer, employment
107 agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee,
108 or, in the case of an alleged violation of s. 760.10(5), the
109 person responsible for the violation and describing the
110 violation. Any person aggrieved by a violation of s. 509.092 may
111 file a complaint with the commission within 365 days of the
112 alleged violation naming the person responsible for the
113 violation and describing the violation. The commission, a
114 commissioner, or the Attorney General may in like manner file
115 such a complaint. On the same day the complaint is filed with
116 the commission, the commission shall clearly stamp on the face
117 of the complaint the date the complaint was filed wit h the
118 commission. In lieu of filing the complaint with the commission,
119 a complaint under this section may be filed with the federal
120 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with any unit of
121 government of the state which is a fair-employment-practice
122 agency under 29 C.F.R. ss. 1601.70-1601.80. If the date the
123 complaint is filed is clearly stamped on the face of the
124 complaint, that date is the date of filing. The date the
125 complaint is filed with the commission for purposes of this
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126 section is the earliest date of filing with the Equal Employment
127 Opportunity Commission, the fair-employment-practice agency, or
128 the commission. The complaint shall contain a short and plain
129 statement of the facts describing the violation and the relief
130 sought. The commission may require additional information to be
131 in the complaint. The commission, within 5 days of the complaint
132 being filed, shall by registered mail send a copy of the
133 complaint to the person who allegedly committed the violation.
134 The person who allegedly committed the violation may file an
135 answer to the complaint within 25 days of the date the complaint
136 was filed with the commission. Any answer filed shall be mailed
137 to the aggrieved person by the person filing the answer. Both
138 the complaint and the answer shall be verified.
139 (15) In any civil action or administrative proceeding
140 brought pursuant to this section, a finding that a person
141 employed by the state or any governmental entity or agency has
142 violated s. 760.10 shall as a matter of law constitute just or
143 substantial cause for such person's discharge.
144 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.
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