Florida Senate - 2023 SB 490
By Senator Jones
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A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to family and household members of 2
homicide victims and deceased minors; providing a 3
short title; creating s. 448.046, F.S.; defining 4
terms; requiring employers to authorize employees to 5
request and take up to a specified number of days of 6
leave from work under certain circumstances; providing 7
requirements and purposes for such leave; providing 8
applicability; requiring employees to make a 9
reasonable effort to provide employers with advance 10
notice of such leave; requiring employees to provide 11
employers with specified documentation upon request; 12
requiring employees to exhaust other leave options 13
before taking specified leave; providing an exception; 14
requiring private employers to keep information 15
relating to such leave confidential; prohibiting 16
employers from engaging in specified actions under 17
certain circumstances; providing construction; 18
amending s. 960.001, F.S.; requiring law enforcement 19
agencies to provide certain information during the 20
investigation of the death of a minor; providing an 21
exception; providing construction; providing an 22
effective date. 23
24
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 25
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Section 1. This act may be cited as “Curtis’ Law.” 27
Section 2. Section 448.046, Florida Statutes, is created to 28
read: 29 Florida Senate - 2023 SB 490
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448.046 Leave and work accommodations for family or 30
household members of homicide victims. — 31
(1) As used in this section, the term: 32
(a) “Employee” has the same meaning as in s. 440.02(15). 33
(b) “Employer” has the same meaning as in s. 440.02(16). 34
(c) “Family or household member” has the same meaning as in 35
s. 741.28. 36
(d) “Homicide” means an unlawful act that causes the death 37
of another person. 38
(e) “Homicide victim” means a deceased person killed in a 39
homicide. 40
(2)(a) An employer must authorize an employee to request 41
and take up to 3 working days of leave from work in any 12 -month 42
period if a family or household member of the employee is a 43
homicide victim during that period. This leave may be granted 44
with or without pay, at the discretion of the employer. 45
(b) This section applies if an employee uses the leave from 46
work to: 47
1. Make funeral or burial arrangements for, or attend a 48
funeral or memorial service for, the homicide victim; 49
2. Make the employee’s home secure from the perpetrator or 50
associates of the perpetrator of the homicide or to seek new 51
housing to elude the perpetrator or associates of the 52
perpetrator; or 53
3. Meet in person with law enforcement personnel or the 54
state attorney’s office in the jurisdiction responsible for 55
investigating and prosecuting the homicide or to attend or 56
prepare for court or court -related proceedings arising from the 57
homicide. 58 Florida Senate - 2023 SB 490
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(3) This section applies to an employer that employs 50 or 59
more employees and to an employee who has been employed by the 60
employer for 3 or more months. 61
(4)(a) An employee seeking leave under this section must 62
make a reasonable effort, as practicable, to provide his or her 63
employer with appropriate advance notice of the leave required 64
by the employer’s policy, if any. Upon request of the employer, 65
an employee must provide the employer with sufficient 66
documentation of the homicide. 67
(b) An employee seeking leave under this section must, 68
before receiving such leave, exhaust all annual or vacation 69
leave, personal leave, and sick leave, if applicable, available 70
to the employee, unless the employer waives this requirement. 71
(c) A private employer must keep all information relating 72
to the employee’s leave under this section confidential. 73
(5)(a) An employer may not interfere with, restrain, or 74
deny the exercise of or any attempt by an employee to exercise 75
any right provided under this section. 76
(b) An employer may not discharge, demote, suspend, 77
retaliate, or in any other manner discriminate against an 78
employee for exercising his or her rights under this section. 79
(c) If the employee was not entitled to leave under this 80
section, an employee has no greater rights to continued 81
employment or to other benefits and conditions of employment. 82
This section does not limit an employer’s right to discipline or 83
terminate any employee fo r any reason, including, but not 84
limited to, reductions in work force or termination for cause or 85
for no reason at all, other than exercising its rights under 86
this section. 87 Florida Senate - 2023 SB 490
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Section 3. Paragraph (v) is added to subsection (1) of 88
section 960.001, Florida S tatutes, to read: 89
960.001 Guidelines for fair treatment of victims and 90
witnesses in the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems. — 91
(1) The Department of Legal Affairs, the state attorneys, 92
the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile 93
Justice, the Florida Commission on Offender Review, the State 94
Courts Administrator and circuit court administrators, the 95
Department of Law Enforcement, and every sheriff’s department, 96
police department, or other law enforcement agency as defined in 97
s. 943.10(4) shall develop and implement guidelines for the use 98
of their respective agencies, which guidelines are consistent 99
with the purposes of this act and s. 16(b), Art. I of the State 100
Constitution and are designed to implement s. 16(b), Art. I of 101
the State Constitution and to achieve the following objectives: 102
(v) Information concerning an investigation into the death 103
of a minor.— 104
1. During the investigation of the death of a minor, the 105
law enforcement agency that initiates or bears the primary 106
responsibility for the investigation must provide the minor’s 107
next of kin with all of the following information: 108
a. The contact information for the primary contact, if 109
known, for the particular investigation, as well as the contact 110
information for each law enforcement agenc y involved in the 111
investigation. 112
b. The case number for the investigation, if applicable. 113
c. A list of the minor’s personal effects that were found 114
on or with the minor and information on how the minor’s next of 115
kin can collect such personal effects. 116 Florida Senate - 2023 SB 490
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d. Information regarding the status of the investigation, 117
at the discretion of the law enforcement agency. 118
2. A law enforcement agency may not provide any of the 119
information under this paragraph if doing so would jeopardize or 120
otherwise interfere with an active investigation. 121
3. This paragraph does not require a law enforcement agency 122
to provide investigative records generated during its 123
investigation to a minor’s next of kin for inspection. 124
Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 125