Text of FL S 1642 (2026)

Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1642 By Senator McClain 9-00390A-26 20261642__ 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 employers to use a pronoun that does not correspond to 10 the employee’s or contractor’s sex; prohibiting the 11 inclusion on certain forms of specified options 12 relating to an applicant’s sex; prohibiting adverse 13 personnel action on the basis of sincerely held 14 religious, moral, conscience-based, or biology-based 15 beliefs against gender ideology; providing 16 administrative and civil remedies; providing 17 reasonable attorney fees and costs; authorizing the 18 Department of Management Services to adopt rules; 19 amending s. 760.10, F.S.; providing that it is an 20 unlawful employment practice for certain employers to 21 require certain training, instruction, or activity as 22 a condition of employment; defining the term 23 “employer”; reenacting s. 760.11(1) and (15), F.S., 24 relating to administrative and civil remedies, to 25 incorporate the amendment made to s. 760.10, F.S., in 26 references thereto; providing an effective date. 27 28 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 29 30 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Freedom of 31 Conscience in the Workplace Act.” 32 Section 2. Section 110.1051, Florida Statutes, is created 33 to read: 34 110.1051 Personal pronouns.— 35 (1) As used in this section, the term: 36 (a) “Adverse personnel action” means the discharge, 37 suspension, transfer, demotion, or lack of promotion of an 38 employee or a contractor or the withholding of bonuses, the 39 withholding of promotional opportunities, the reduction in 40 salary or benefits, or any other adverse action taken against an 41 employee or a contractor within the terms and conditions of 42 employment by an employer. 43 (b) “Contractor” means an individual, a partnership, a 44 corporation, or a business entity that enters or attempts to 45 enter into a contract for services with an employer. 46 (c) “Employee” means an individual employed by, or 47 attempting to be employed by, an employer. 48 (d) “Employer” means the state or any county, municipality, 49 or special district or any subdivision or agency thereof. 50 (e) “Gender identity” means a fully internal and subjective 51 sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex, and 52 existing on an infinite continuum that does not provide a 53 meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as 54 a replacement for sex. 55 (f) “Gender ideology” means the false belief that replaces 56 the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of 57 self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that 58 males can identify as and become women and vice versa, and 59 requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim 60 as true. The term includes the idea that there is a vast 61 spectrum of genders that are disconnected from a person’s sex. 62 Gender ideology is internally inconsistent in that it diminishes 63 sex as an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless 64 maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the 65 wrong sexed body. 66 (g) “Sex” means the classification of a person as either 67 female or male based on the organization of the body of such 68 person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the 69 person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and 70 internal and external genitalia present at birth. 71 (2) It is the policy of this state that a person’s sex is 72 an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to 73 a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s 74 sex. This section does not apply to individuals born with a 75 genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex 76 development, including, but not limited to, 46,XX disorder of 77 sex development; 46,XY disorder of sex development; sex 78 chromosome disorder of sex development; XX or XY sex reversal; 79 and ovotesticular disorder. 80 (3) An employee or a contractor may not be required, as a 81 condition of employment or to avoid adverse personnel action, to 82 refer to another person using that person’s preferred pronouns 83 if such pronouns do not correspond to that person’s sex. 84 (4) An employee or a contractor may not require an employer 85 to use his or her preferred pronouns if such preferred pronouns 86 do not correspond to the employee’s or contractor’s sex. 87 (5) A job application or other related employment form that 88 requires an applicant to mark his or her sex may only inquire if 89 the applicant is male or female and may not provide a nonbinary 90 or other option. 91 (6)(a) It is an unlawful employment practice for an 92 employer to take adverse personnel action against an employee or 93 a contractor because of the employee’s or contractor’s sincerely 94 held religious, moral, conscience-based, or biology-based 95 beliefs against gender ideology, whether those views are 96 expressed by the employee or contractor at or away from the 97 worksite. 98 (b) An employee or a contractor aggrieved by a violation of 99 this subsection may avail himself or herself of the 100 administrative and civil remedies provided in s. 760.11. The 101 court shall award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the 102 prevailing party. 103 (7) The Department of Management Services may adopt rules 104 to administer this section. 105 Section 3. Present subsections (10) and (11) of section 106 760.10, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (11) 107 and (12), respectively, and a new subsection (10) is added to 108 that section, to read: 109 760.10 Unlawful employment practices.— 110 (10) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer 111 who receives funding from the state to require, as a condition 112 of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on 113 sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. For 114 purposes of this subsection, the term “employer” includes the 115 state or any county, municipality, or special district or any 116 subdivision or agency thereof. 117 Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 118 made by this act to section 760.10, Florida Statutes, in 119 references thereto, subsections (1) and (15) of section 760.11, 120 Florida Statutes, are reenacted to read: 121 760.11 Administrative and civil remedies; construction.— 122 (1) Any person aggrieved by a violation of ss. 760.01 123 760.10 may file a complaint with the commission within 365 days 124 of the alleged violation, naming the employer, employment 125 agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee, 126 or, in the case of an alleged violation of s. 760.10(5), the 127 person responsible for the violation and describing the 128 violation. Any person aggrieved by a violation of s. 509.092 may 129 file a complaint with the commission within 365 days of the 130 alleged violation naming the person responsible for the 131 violation and describing the violation. The commission, a 132 commissioner, or the Attorney General may in like manner file 133 such a complaint. On the same day the complaint is filed with 134 the commission, the commission shall clearly stamp on the face 135 of the complaint the date the complaint was filed with the 136 commission. In lieu of filing the complaint with the commission, 137 a complaint under this section may be filed with the federal 138 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with any unit of 139 government of the state which is a fair-employment-practice 140 agency under 29 C.F.R. ss. 1601.70-1601.80. If the date the 141 complaint is filed is clearly stamped on the face of the 142 complaint, that date is the date of filing. The date the 143 complaint is filed with the commission for purposes of this 144 section is the earliest date of filing with the Equal Employment 145 Opportunity Commission, the fair-employment-practice agency, or 146 the commission. The complaint shall contain a short and plain 147 statement of the facts describing the violation and the relief 148 sought. The commission may require additional information to be 149 in the complaint. The commission, within 5 days of the complaint 150 being filed, shall by registered mail send a copy of the 151 complaint to the person who allegedly committed the violation. 152 The person who allegedly committed the violation may file an 153 answer to the complaint within 25 days of the date the complaint 154 was filed with the commission. Any answer filed shall be mailed 155 to the aggrieved person by the person filing the answer. Both 156 the complaint and the answer shall be verified. 157 (15) In any civil action or administrative proceeding 158 brought pursuant to this section, a finding that a person 159 employed by the state or any governmental entity or agency has 160 violated s. 760.10 shall as a matter of law constitute just or 161 substantial cause for such person’s discharge. 162 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.