House Bill 433 – effective July 1, 2024 – strips local Florida governments of their power to regulate employers in three important areas. First, the new law preempts local governments from creating heat exposure regulations. Second, it limits local governments from controlling the terms and conditions of private employment. And third, it forbids local governments from adopting predictive work schedule laws. We discuss each issue below.
I. Heat Exposure Regulations
House Bill 433 bars counties and municipalities from creating heat exposure regulations beyond those required under federal or state law. This preemptive measure was motivated by a proposed ordinance in Miami-Dade County, which forced employers to provide water access, shaded break time and heat-related training, under threat of a $2,000 daily fine. These proposed heat exposure regulations – the first of their kind in the country – are not enforceable under House Bill 433 because they exceed the standard set by state and federal law.
In fact, there is no heat-related standard under state or federal law. However, on July 2, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) debuted a long-anticipated rule that would, if enacted, comprehensively regulate heat injury and illness issues in the workplace. The proposed rule, however, will not become final before the November elections. In the meantime, OSHA still generally requires employers to provide a workplace free of “recognized hazards” likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees – which arguably could include extreme heat. Accordingly, Florida employers should consider heat-related dangers when assessing the safety of their workplace.
II. Wage and Employment Benefits
House Bill 433 also limits counties’ and municipalities’ ability to control the wages and employment benefits private employers offer employees. Floridians are guaranteed a state and federal minimum wage, along with other employment benefits. For more than a decade, the state Legislature has barred local governments from establishing a minimum wage or requiring benefits not mandated by state or federal law. Despite this broad prohibition, the Legislature has allowed counties and municipalities to dictate the wages and employment benefits offered by employers contracting with the local government. Alachua County, for example, recently enacted a local minimum wage exceeding state and federal law for private employers contracting with the county. Broward County and Miami-Dade County also enacted similar ordinances.
House Bill 433 essentially voids those local ordinances. Local governments may no longer control the wages or employment benefits of private employers they contract with, nor can they award preferential treatment to contractors based on the wages or benefits they voluntarily provide.
III. Predictive Scheduling
Lastly, House Bill 433 forbids local governments from adopting predictive work schedule laws. Enacted by several cities and states across the country, predictive work schedule laws aim to promote what are claimed to be fairer scheduling practices, provide employees with sufficient notice of work schedules and enforce penalties for late schedule changes. These laws also seek to give employees the right of first refusal for additional work and bar certain shifts, like back-to-back opening and closing shifts. House Bill 433 prohibits local governments from adopting or enforcing any law regulating private-employer scheduling, including predictive scheduling.
Moving forward, Florida employers with compliance questions in these three areas should look to state and federal law, not local law, to determine their obligations.
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