Blog Post

There Are Stranger Things in Florida than the Court Blocking Florida’s Individual Freedom Act

Florida’s Individual Freedom Act (“IFA”), also referred to as the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” went into effect July 1, 2022, and, among other things, amended the state’s Civil Right Act of 1992 to make it unlawful for an employer to require its employees to attend mandatory trainings or instruction that “espouses or promotes” any of the following eight prohibited concepts:

• That members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.
• An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously
• An individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin
• Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race, color, sex, or national origin
• An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears responsibility for, or should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin
• An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion
• An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin
• Such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist, or were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.

To read the full post, please visit our Blank Rome Workplace blog.