Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 440 By the Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability; and Senator McClain 585-02844-25 2025440c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to gender identity employment 3 practices; providing a short title; creating s. 4 110.1051, F.S.; defining terms; specifying an 5 employment policy of this state relating to a person’s 6 sex; providing applicability; prohibiting employees 7 and contractors of certain employers from being 8 required to use certain pronouns or requiring such 9 employer to use a pronoun that does not correspond to 10 the employee’s or contractor’s sex; prohibiting 11 specified options relating to an applicant’s sex from 12 being included on certain employment forms; 13 authorizing the Department of Management Services to 14 adopt rules; amending s. 760.10, F.S.; providing that 15 it is an unlawful employment practice for the state or 16 any county, municipality, special district, or other 17 political subdivision to require certain training, 18 instruction, or activity as a condition of employment; 19 reenacting s. 760.11(1) and (15), F.S., relating to 20 administrative and civil remedies, to incorporate the 21 amendment made to s. 760.10, F.S., in references 22 thereto; providing an effective date. 23 24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 25 26 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Freedom of 27 Conscience in the Workplace Act.” 28 Section 2. Section 110.1051, Florida Statutes, is created 29 to read: 30 110.1051 Personal pronouns.— 31 (1) As used in this section, the term: 32 (a) “Adverse personnel action” means the discharge, 33 suspension, transfer, demotion, or lack of promotion of an 34 employee or a contractor or the withholding of bonuses, the 35 withholding of promotional opportunities, the reduction in 36 salary or benefits, or any other adverse action taken against an 37 employee or a contractor within the terms and conditions of 38 employment by an employer. 39 (b) “Contractor” means an individual, a partnership, a 40 corporation, or a business entity that enters or attempts to 41 enter into a contract for services with an employer. 42 (c) “Employee” means an individual employed by, or 43 attempting to be employed by, an employer. 44 (d) “Employer” means the state or any county, municipality, 45 or special district or any subdivision or agency thereof. 46 (e) “Gender identity” means a fully internal and subjective 47 sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex, and 48 existing on an infinite continuum that does not provide a 49 meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as 50 a replacement for sex. 51 (f) “Gender ideology” means the false belief that replaces 52 the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of 53 self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that 54 males can identify as and become women and vice versa, and 55 requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim 56 as true. The term includes the idea that there is a vast 57 spectrum of genders that are disconnected from a person’s sex. 58 The term is internally inconsistent in that it diminishes sex as 59 an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless maintains 60 that it is possible for a person to be born in the wrong sexed 61 body. 62 (g) “Sex” means the classification of a person as either 63 female or male based on the organization of the body of such 64 person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the 65 person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and 66 internal and external genitalia present at birth. 67 (2) It is the policy of this state that a person’s sex is 68 an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to 69 a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s 70 sex. This section does not apply to individuals born with a 71 genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex 72 development, including, but not limited to, 46,XX disorder of 73 sex development; 46,XY disorder of sex development; sex 74 chromosome disorder of sex development; XX or XY sex reversal; 75 and ovotesticular disorder. 76 (3) An employee or a contractor may not be required, as a 77 condition of employment or to avoid adverse personnel action, to 78 refer to another person using that person’s preferred pronouns 79 if such pronouns do not correspond to that person’s sex. 80 (4) An employee or a contractor may not require an employer 81 to use his or her preferred pronouns if such preferred pronouns 82 do not correspond to the employee’s or contractor’s sex. 83 (5) A job application or other related employment form that 84 requires an applicant to mark his or her sex may only inquire if 85 the applicant is male or female and may not provide a nonbinary 86 or other option. 87 (6) The Department of Management Services may adopt rules 88 to administer this section. 89 Section 3. Present subsections (10) and (11) of section 90 760.10, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (11) 91 and (12), respectively, and a new subsection (10) is added to 92 that section, to read: 93 760.10 Unlawful employment practices.— 94 (10) It is an unlawful employment practice for the state or 95 any county, municipality, special district, or other political 96 subdivision to require, as a condition of employment, any 97 training, instruction, or other activity on gender identity or 98 gender expression. 99 Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 100 made by this act to section 760.10, Florida Statutes, in 101 references 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 with 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 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 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.