HB 1495 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to gender identity employment 2
practices; providing a short title; creating s. 3
110.1051, F.S.; providing definitions; specifying an 4
employment policy of this state relating to a person's 5
sex; providing applicability; prohibiting employees 6
and contractors of certain employers from being 7
required to use certain pronouns or requiring such 8
employer to use a pronoun that does not correspond to 9
the employee's or contractor's sex; prohibiting 10
certain forms from offering specified options relating 11
to an applicant's sex; prohibiting adverse personnel 12
action on the basis of deeply held religious, moral, 13
conscience-based, or biology-based beliefs; providing 14
administrative and civil remedies; providing 15
reasonable attorney fees and costs; authorizing the 16
Department of Management Services to adopt rules; 17
amending s. 760.10, F.S.; providing that it is an 18
unlawful employment practice for certain employers to 19
require certain training, instruction, or activity as 20
a condition of employment; defining the term 21
"employer"; reenacting s. 760.11(1) and (15), F.S., 22
relating to administrative and civil remedies, to 23
incorporate the amendment made to s. 760.10, F.S., in 24
references thereto; providing an effective date. 25
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 27
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Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Freedom of 29
Conscience in the Workplace Act." 30
Section 2. Section 110.1051, Florida Statutes, is creat ed 31
to read: 32
110.1051 Personal pronouns. — 33
(1) As used in this section, the term: 34
(a) "Adverse personnel action" means the discharge, 35
suspension, transfer, demotion, or lack of promotion of an 36
employee or a contractor or the withholding of bonuses, the 37
withholding of promotional opportunities, the reduction in 38
salary or benefits, or any other adverse action taken against an 39
employee or a contractor within the terms and conditions of 40
employment by an employer. 41
(b) "Contractor" means an individual, part nership, 42
corporation, or business entity that enters or attempts to enter 43
into a contract for services with an employer. 44
(c) "Employee" means an individual employed by, or 45
attempting to be employed by, an employer. 46
(d) "Employer" means the state or any county, 47
municipality, or special district or any subdivision or agency 48
thereof. 49
(e) "Gender identity" means a fully internal and 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality 51
and sex, and existing on an infinite continuum that does not 52
provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be 53
recognized as a replacement for sex. 54
(f) "Gender ideology" means the false belief that replaces 55
the biological category of sex with an ever -shifting concept of 56
self-assessed gender identity, per mitting the false claim that 57
males can identify as and become women and vice versa, and 58
requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim 59
as true. The term includes the idea that there is a vast 60
spectrum of genders that are disconnected from a person's sex. 61
Gender ideology is internally inconsistent in that it diminishes 62
sex as an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless 63
maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the 64
wrong sexed body. 65
(g) "Sex" means the classification of a person as either 66
female or male based on the organization of the body of such 67
person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the 68
person's sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and 69
internal and external genitalia present at birt h. 70
(2) It is the policy of this state that a person's sex is 71
an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to 72
a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person's 73
sex. This section does not apply to individuals born with a 74
genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
development, including, but not limited to, 46, XX disorder of 76
sex development; 46, XY disorder of sex development; sex 77
chromosome disorder of sex development; XX or XY sex reversal; 78
and ovotesticular disord er. 79
(3) An employee or a contractor may not be required, as a 80
condition of employment or to avoid adverse personnel action, to 81
refer to another person using that person's preferred pronouns 82
if such pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex. 83
(4) An employee or a contractor may not require an 84
employer to use his or her preferred pronouns if such preferred 85
pronouns do not correspond to the employee's or contractor's 86
sex. 87
(5) A job application or other related employment form 88
that requires an appli cant to mark his or her sex may only 89
inquire if the applicant is male or female and may not provide a 90
nonbinary 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 deeply 94
held religious, moral, conscience -based, or biology-based 95
beliefs, including a belief in traditional or Biblical views of 96
sexuality and marriage, or the employee's or contractor's 97
disagreement with gend er ideology, whether those views are 98
expressed by the employee or contractor at or away from the 99
worksite. 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
(b) An employee or a contractor aggrieved by a violation 101
of this subsection may avail himself or herself to the 102
administrative and civil remedies p rovided in s. 760.11. The 103
court shall award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the 104
prevailing party. 105
(7) The Department of Management Services may adopt rules 106
to administer this section. 107
Section 3. Subsections (10) and (11) of section 760.10, 108
Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (11) and (12), 109
respectively, and a new subsection (10) is added to that 110
section, to read: 111
760.10 Unlawful employment practices. — 112
(10) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer 113
who receives funding from the state to require, as a condition 114
of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on 115
sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. For 116
purposes of this subsection, the term "employer" includes the 117
state or any county, muni cipality, or special district or any 118
subdivision or agency thereof. 119
Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 120
made by this act to section 760.10, Florida Statutes, in a 121
reference thereto, Subsections (1) and (15) of section 760.11, 122
Florida Statutes, are reenacted to read: 123
760.11 Administrative and civil remedies; construction. — 124
(1) Any person aggrieved by a violation of ss. 760.01 -125
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760.10 may file a complaint with the commission within 365 days 126
of the alleged violation, naming the emp loyer, employment 127
agency, labor organization, or joint labor -management committee, 128
or, in the case of an alleged violation of s. 760.10(5), the 129
person responsible for the violation and describing the 130
violation. Any person aggrieved by a violation of s. 509 .092 may 131
file a complaint with the commission within 365 days of the 132
alleged violation naming the person responsible for the 133
violation and describing the violation. The commission, a 134
commissioner, or the Attorney General may in like manner file 135
such a complaint. On the same day the complaint is filed with 136
the commission, the commission shall clearly stamp on the face 137
of the complaint the date the complaint was filed with the 138
commission. In lieu of filing the complaint with the commission, 139
a complaint under this section may be filed with the federal 140
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with any unit of 141
government of the state which is a fair -employment-practice 142
agency under 29 C.F.R. ss. 1601.70 -1601.80. If the date the 143
complaint is filed is clearly sta mped on the face of the 144
complaint, that date is the date of filing. The date the 145
complaint is filed with the commission for purposes of this 146
section is the earliest date of filing with the Equal Employment 147
Opportunity Commission, the fair -employment-practice agency, or 148
the commission. The complaint shall contain a short and plain 149
statement of the facts describing the violation and the relief 150
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
sought. The commission may require additional information to be 151
in the complaint. The commission, within 5 days of th e complaint 152
being filed, shall by registered mail send a copy of the 153
complaint to the person who allegedly committed the violation. 154
The person who allegedly committed the violation may file an 155
answer to the complaint within 25 days of the date the complain t 156
was filed with the commission. Any answer filed shall be mailed 157
to the aggrieved person by the person filing the answer. Both 158
the complaint and the answer shall be verified. 159
(15) In any civil action or administrative proceeding 160
brought pursuant to this section, a finding that a person 161
employed by the state or any governmental entity or agency has 162
violated s. 760.10 shall as a matter of law constitute just or 163
substantial cause for such person's discharge. 164
Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 165