proCeeDwitHCautioN : stopwokeaCt & empLoYeetraiNiNg labor & Employment law Section Chairs : AmandaBiondolino – SassLawFirm & LaKishaKinsey-Sallis – Fisher & PhillipsLLP
As of July 1 , 2022 , Florida employers were obligated to comply with the Individual Freedom Act or the stop the Wrongs to our Kids and Employees Act (“ stop WoKE Act ”). 1 This Act potentially outlaws common types of diversity , equity , and inclusion ( DEI ) employee training . The Act ’ s sponsors describe it as combating wokeness , but the law ’ s terms leave employers with a significant degree of uncertainty regarding mandatory training .
The stop WoKE Act amends the Florida Civil rights Act of 1992 2 by establishing that it is unlawful to subject a person to training that endorses specified concepts as a condition of employment . 3 The stop WoKE Act prohibits employers from endorsing enumerated concepts regarding race , color , national origin , and sex in an unobjective manner during training or as a condition of employment . According to the Act , employers are free to objectively discuss the identified concepts , but are prohibited from endorsing them . 4
the [ stopwokeact ’ s ] sponsorsdescribeitas combating “ wokeness ,” butthelaw ’ stermsleave employerswitha significantdegreeof uncertaintyregarding mandatorytraining .
In practice , the stop WoKE Act limits employers ’ ability to cover certain topics in their workplace anti-discrimination and DEI training such as white privilege , moral superiority of a certain protected class , impacts of the oppression of minorities throughout history , structural racism or sexism , and unconscious bias .
The stop WoKE Act has faced multiple lawsuits challenging its constitutionality . 5 notably , the Honeyfund . com Inc . et al . v . Desantis et al . lawsuit was filed in June 2022 and , as of the date this article was written , remained pending in the U . s . District Court for the northern District of Florida . 6 In Honeyfund , the plaintiffs — private employers — alleged that the stop WoKE Act violates their First Amendment right of free speech and their due process rights by being unconstitutionally vague . In their complaint , plaintiffs asserted that the “ stop WoKE Act reads more like the policy of an authoritarian regime than a law passed in our American democracy .” 7 on June 30 , 2022 , the plaintiffs filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction arguing that the stop WoKE Act unlawfully imposes liability on employers for endorsing certain concepts that are disfavored by those in power . 8 Plaintiffs emphasize the potential irreparable harm of this Act to private employers and DEI trainers . on August 18 , 2022 , the court granted plaintiff ’ s motion for preliminary injunction and barred the state of Florida from enforcing the stop Woke Act until otherwise ordered . The Honeyfund case will likely be appealed to the U . s . Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit . If so , it may have a tremendous impact on the future of DEI training and how the stop WoKE Act is enforced against employers . Although the Act ’ s vague wording gives employers potential
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