Bill Text: FL S0438 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Prohibited Discrimination

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-1)

Status: (Failed) 2019-05-03 - Died in Governmental Oversight and Accountability [S0438 Detail]

Download: Florida-2019-S0438-Introduced.html
       Florida Senate - 2019                                     SB 438
       
       
        
       By Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       23-00464A-19                                           2019438__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to prohibited discrimination;
    3         providing a short title; amending s. 760.01, F.S.;
    4         revising the purposes of the Florida Civil Rights Act
    5         of 1992 to conform to changes made by the act;
    6         reordering and amending s. 760.02, F.S.; defining the
    7         terms “gender identity” and “sexual orientation”;
    8         amending s. 760.05, F.S.; revising the functions of
    9         the Florida Commission on Human Relations to conform
   10         to changes made by the act; amending s. 760.07, F.S.;
   11         revising provisions regarding remedies for unlawful
   12         discrimination to include discrimination based on
   13         sexual orientation and gender identity in the area of
   14         employment, to conform to changes made by the act;
   15         amending s. 760.10, F.S.; adding sexual orientation
   16         and gender identity as impermissible grounds for
   17         discrimination with respect to specified unlawful
   18         employment practices; providing an exception to
   19         specified provisions for the constitutionally
   20         protected free exercise of religion; providing an
   21         effective date.
   22          
   23  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   24  
   25         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Florida Inclusive
   26  Workforce Act.”
   27         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 760.01, Florida
   28  Statutes, is republished, and subsection (2) of that section is
   29  amended, to read:
   30         760.01 Purposes; construction; title.—
   31         (1) Sections 760.01-760.11 and 509.092 shall be cited as
   32  the “Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992.”
   33         (2) The general purposes of the Florida Civil Rights Act of
   34  1992 are to secure for all individuals within the state freedom
   35  from discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex,
   36  pregnancy, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender
   37  identity, handicap, or marital status and thereby to protect
   38  their interest in personal dignity, to make available to the
   39  state their full productive capacities, to secure the state
   40  against domestic strife and unrest, to preserve the public
   41  safety, health, and general welfare, and to promote the
   42  interests, rights, and privileges of individuals within the
   43  state.
   44         Section 3. Section 760.02, Florida Statutes, is reordered
   45  and amended to read:
   46         760.02 Definitions.—For the purposes of ss. 760.01-760.11
   47  and 509.092, the term:
   48         (7)(1) “Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992” means ss. 760.01
   49  760.11 and 509.092.
   50         (2) “Commission” means the Florida Commission on Human
   51  Relations created by s. 760.03.
   52         (3) “Commissioner” or “member” means a member of the
   53  commission.
   54         (4) “Discriminatory practice” means any practice made
   55  unlawful by the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992.
   56         (10)(5) “National origin” includes ancestry.
   57         (11)(6) “Person” includes an individual, association,
   58  corporation, joint apprenticeship committee, joint-stock
   59  company, labor union, legal representative, mutual company,
   60  partnership, receiver, trust, trustee in bankruptcy, or
   61  unincorporated organization; any other legal or commercial
   62  entity; the state; or any governmental entity or agency.
   63         (5)(7) “Employer” means any person employing 15 or more
   64  employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar
   65  weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent
   66  of such a person.
   67         (6)(8) “Employment agency” means any person regularly
   68  undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure employees
   69  for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to
   70  work for an employer, and includes an agent of such a person.
   71         (8) “Gender identity” means gender-related identity,
   72  appearance, or behavior, regardless of whether such gender
   73  related identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that
   74  traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or
   75  assigned sex at birth, and which gender-related identity can be
   76  shown by the person providing evidence, including, but not
   77  limited to:
   78         (a) Medical history, care, or treatment of the gender
   79  related identity;
   80         (b) Consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related
   81  identity; or
   82         (c) Other evidence that the gender-related identity is a
   83  sincerely held part of a person’s core identity and is not being
   84  asserted for an improper purpose.
   85         (9) “Labor organization” means any organization that which
   86  exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective
   87  bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances,
   88  terms or conditions of employment, or other mutual aid or
   89  protection in connection with employment.
   90         (1)(10) “Aggrieved person” means any person who files a
   91  complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations
   92  Commission.
   93         (12)(11) “Public accommodations” means places of public
   94  accommodation, lodgings, facilities principally engaged in
   95  selling food for consumption on the premises, gasoline stations,
   96  places of exhibition or entertainment, and other covered
   97  establishments. Each of the following establishments which
   98  serves the public is a place of public accommodation within the
   99  meaning of this section:
  100         (a) Any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment that
  101  which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an
  102  establishment located within a building that which contains not
  103  more than four rooms for rent or hire and that which is actually
  104  occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his or her
  105  residence.
  106         (b) Any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter,
  107  soda fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling
  108  food for consumption on the premises, including, but not limited
  109  to, any such facility located on the premises of any retail
  110  establishment, or any gasoline station.
  111         (c) Any motion picture theater, theater, concert hall,
  112  sports arena, stadium, or other place of exhibition or
  113  entertainment.
  114         (d) Any establishment that which is physically located
  115  within the premises of any establishment otherwise covered by
  116  this subsection, or within the premises of which is physically
  117  located any such covered establishment, and that which holds
  118  itself out as serving patrons of such covered establishment.
  119         (13) “Sexual orientation” means an individual’s
  120  heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.
  121         Section 4. Section 760.05, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  122  read:
  123         760.05 Functions of the commission.—The commission shall
  124  promote and encourage fair treatment and equal opportunity for
  125  all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy,
  126  national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity,
  127  handicap, or marital status and mutual understanding and respect
  128  among all members of society. The commission all economic,
  129  social, racial, religious, and ethnic groups; and shall endeavor
  130  to eliminate discrimination against, and antagonism between,
  131  persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy,
  132  national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity,
  133  handicap, or marital status religious, racial, and ethnic groups
  134  and their members.
  135         Section 5. Section 760.07, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  136  read:
  137         760.07 Remedies for unlawful discrimination.—Any violation
  138  of any state law Florida statute making unlawful discrimination
  139  because of race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national
  140  origin, age, handicap, or marital status in the areas of
  141  education, employment, housing, or public accommodations, or
  142  because of sexual orientation or gender identity in the area of
  143  employment, gives rise to a cause of action for all relief and
  144  damages described in s. 760.11(5), unless greater damages are
  145  expressly provided for. If the statute prohibiting unlawful
  146  discrimination provides an administrative remedy, the action for
  147  equitable relief and damages provided for in this section may be
  148  initiated only after the plaintiff has exhausted his or her
  149  administrative remedy. The term “public accommodations” does not
  150  include lodge halls or other similar facilities of private
  151  organizations which are made available for public use
  152  occasionally or periodically. The right to trial by jury is
  153  preserved in any case in which the plaintiff is seeking actual
  154  or punitive damages.
  155         Section 6. Subsections (1) and (2), paragraphs (a) and (b)
  156  of subsection (3), subsections (4), (5), and (6), paragraph (a)
  157  of subsection (8), and subsection (9) of section 760.10, Florida
  158  Statutes, are amended, and subsection (10) of that section is
  159  republished, to read:
  160         760.10 Unlawful employment practices.—
  161         (1) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer:
  162         (a) To discharge or to fail or refuse to hire any
  163  individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual
  164  with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges
  165  of employment, because of such individual’s race, color,
  166  religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, sexual
  167  orientation, gender identity, handicap, or marital status.
  168         (b) To limit, segregate, or classify employees or
  169  applicants for employment in any way that which would deprive or
  170  tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or
  171  adversely affect any individual’s status as an employee, because
  172  of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy,
  173  national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity,
  174  handicap, or marital status.
  175         (2) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employment
  176  agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise
  177  to discriminate against, any individual because of race, color,
  178  religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, sexual
  179  orientation, gender identity, handicap, or marital status or to
  180  classify or refer for employment any individual on the basis of
  181  race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age,
  182  sexual orientation, gender identity, handicap, or marital
  183  status.
  184         (3) It is an unlawful employment practice for a labor
  185  organization:
  186         (a) To exclude or to expel from its membership, or
  187  otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of
  188  race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age,
  189  sexual orientation, gender identity, handicap, or marital
  190  status.
  191         (b) To limit, segregate, or classify its membership or
  192  applicants for membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to
  193  refer for employment any individual, in any way that would
  194  deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment
  195  opportunities, or adversely affect any individual’s status as an
  196  employee or as an applicant for employment, because of such
  197  individual’s race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national
  198  origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, handicap, or
  199  marital status.
  200         (4) It is an unlawful employment practice for any employer,
  201  labor organization, or joint labor-management committee
  202  controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining,
  203  including on-the-job training programs, to discriminate against
  204  any individual because of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy,
  205  national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity,
  206  handicap, or marital status in admission to, or employment in,
  207  any program established to provide apprenticeship or other
  208  training.
  209         (5) Whenever, in order to engage in a profession,
  210  occupation, or trade, it is required that a person receive a
  211  license, certification, or other credential;, become a member or
  212  an associate of any club, association, or other organization;,
  213  or pass any examination, it is an unlawful employment practice
  214  for any person to discriminate against any other person seeking
  215  such license, certification, or other credential;, seeking to
  216  become a member or associate of such club, association, or other
  217  organization;, or seeking to take or pass such examination,
  218  because of such other person’s race, color, religion, sex,
  219  pregnancy, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender
  220  identity, handicap, or marital status.
  221         (6) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer,
  222  a labor organization, an employment agency, or a joint labor
  223  management committee to print, or cause to be printed or
  224  published, any notice or advertisement relating to employment,
  225  membership, classification, referral for employment, or
  226  apprenticeship or other training which indicates, indicating any
  227  preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination, based
  228  on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age,
  229  sexual orientation, gender identity, absence of handicap, or
  230  marital status.
  231         (8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, it
  232  is not an unlawful employment practice under ss. 760.01-760.10
  233  for an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint
  234  labor-management committee to:
  235         (a) Take or fail to take any action on the basis of
  236  religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, sexual
  237  orientation, gender identity, handicap, or marital status in
  238  those certain instances in which religion, sex, condition of
  239  pregnancy, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender
  240  identity, absence of a particular handicap, or marital status is
  241  a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary for
  242  the performance of the particular employment to which such
  243  action or inaction is related.
  244         (9)(a) This section does shall not apply to any religious
  245  corporation, association, educational institution, or society
  246  that which conditions opportunities in the area of employment or
  247  public accommodation to members of that religious corporation,
  248  association, educational institution, or society or to persons
  249  who subscribe to its tenets or beliefs.
  250         (b) This section does shall not prohibit a religious
  251  corporation, association, educational institution, or society
  252  from giving preference in employment to individuals of a
  253  particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying
  254  on by such corporations, associations, educational institutions,
  255  or societies of its various activities.
  256         (c) This section and s. 760.08 do not limit the free
  257  exercise of religion guaranteed by the United States
  258  Constitution and the State Constitution.
  259         (10) Each employer, employment agency, and labor
  260  organization shall post and keep posted in conspicuous places
  261  upon its premises a notice provided by the commission setting
  262  forth such information as the commission deems appropriate to
  263  effectuate the purposes of ss. 760.01-760.10.
  264         Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.

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