Miami Employment Lawyer

Employment Discrimination

Discrimination occurs when an employer treats a worker less favorably because of a protected characteristic rather than because of performance or business need. Florida courts generally analyze Florida Civil Rights Act claims under the same framework federal courts apply to Title VII, which means the federal case law is directly relevant to how a Florida claim will be evaluated.

Discrimination is rarely announced. It usually appears as a pattern: exclusion from meetings or opportunities, a performance review that changes tone after a disclosure, a reorganization that removes one group, or a standard applied to one employee and not to others. Building that pattern into admissible evidence is the core of these cases.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a job benefit is conditioned on submitting to sexual conduct. A hostile work environment arises when conduct is severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment.

Florida made an important change in this area in 2024. For sexual harassment claims specifically, the Florida Civil Rights Act now reaches employers with at least one employee, removing the 15-employee threshold that applies to other discrimination claims. That significantly expands who can bring a harassment claim under state law.

Learn more about sexual harassment claims

Workplace Sexual Assault

A single act of sexual assault at work is generally severe enough to create a hostile work environment as a matter of law. In Florida a survivor may pursue statutory discrimination claims alongside common law claims including assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and in appropriate cases claims against the employer for negligent hiring, retention, or supervision.

Florida has also eliminated the civil statute of limitations for certain sexual battery claims involving victims who were under 16 at the time, which can allow matters to proceed that would otherwise be time barred. Our Firm has recovered multi-million dollar settlements in workplace sexual assault matters, and these cases are handled with discretion and attention to the survivor's privacy at every stage.

Race Discrimination

Title VII, Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Florida Civil Rights Act, and the Miami-Dade ordinance all prohibit discrimination based on race and color. In practice this means an employer may not use race as a factor in hiring, pay, assignments, promotion, discipline, or termination.

Section 1981 is particularly useful in Florida because it has no employer size threshold, requires no administrative filing before suit, and carries a four-year limitations period for most claims, which is considerably longer than the state and federal administrative deadlines.

Sex and Gender Discrimination

Employers may not treat workers less favorably because of sex or gender. This covers unequal pay, denial of assignments and promotions, and gender based harassment. Florida's own equal pay provision works alongside the federal Equal Pay Act, which carries a two-year limitations period extended to three years for willful violations and does not require any administrative filing before suit.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

The Florida Civil Rights Act does not expressly list sexual orientation or gender identity. Two other routes are available. Following the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status is treated as sex discrimination under federal Title VII. Separately, the Miami-Dade County Human Rights Ordinance expressly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

For LGBTQ employees in Miami, identifying the right forum at the outset is critical, because the county route carries a much shorter 180-day deadline.

Pregnancy Discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination is prohibited under the Florida Civil Rights Act, which was amended to expressly include pregnancy as a protected characteristic, and under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act now requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, including schedule adjustments, seating, additional breaks, and temporary changes to duties.

Refusing an accommodation, demoting an employee after she discloses a pregnancy, or terminating her before or after leave may all give rise to a claim.

Disability Discrimination

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Florida Civil Rights Act, an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to a qualified employee with a disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. Florida law uses the term handicap, and Florida courts generally construe it consistently with the ADA.

The employer is required to engage in an interactive process with the employee about accommodation. Failing to engage in that process in good faith is significant evidence in a failure to accommodate claim. Florida law separately protects employees based on HIV and AIDS status.

Age Discrimination

The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers aged 40 and over and applies to employers with 20 or more employees. The Florida Civil Rights Act prohibits age discrimination without stating a minimum age in its text, although Florida courts analyze those claims under the federal ADEA framework.

Age claims often surface during restructurings, when experienced and higher-paid employees are disproportionately selected for elimination, or when a role is filled by a significantly younger hire shortly after a termination.

Religious Discrimination

Employers must reasonably accommodate an employee's sincerely held religious beliefs and practices, including scheduling around observances and permitting religious dress and grooming, unless the accommodation would create an undue hardship. The Supreme Court's decision in Groff v. DeJoy raised the burden an employer must meet to refuse a religious accommodation, which has made these claims meaningfully stronger.

National Origin and Ancestry

Discrimination based on national origin, ancestry, accent, or perceived immigration status is unlawful under both federal and Florida law. This is a recurring issue in South Florida's diverse workforce, including English-only policies that are not justified by business necessity, accent-based assumptions about competence, and threats to report an employee to immigration authorities. Federal wage and hour protections apply regardless of a worker's immigration status.

Hostile Work Environment

A hostile work environment exists when unwelcome conduct tied to a protected characteristic becomes a condition of continued employment. Florida applies the federal severe or pervasive standard, which asks whether the conduct was objectively hostile and subjectively perceived as hostile by the employee. A single sufficiently severe incident, such as a sexual assault, can establish the claim on its own.

Retaliation

It is unlawful to punish an employee for reporting discrimination, participating in an investigation, requesting an accommodation, or opposing conduct they reasonably believe is illegal. Retaliation can take the form of termination, demotion, schedule changes, exclusion, or a sudden shift in performance reviews.

Retaliation claims are frequently stronger than the underlying complaint, because the timing and the change in treatment are often documented even when the original discrimination is not. An employee can prevail on retaliation even if the underlying complaint does not succeed.

Whistleblower Claims

The Florida Private Sector Whistleblower Act, Sections 448.101 through 448.105 of the Florida Statutes, protects employees who disclose or refuse to participate in an activity, policy, or practice that violates a law, rule, or regulation. It applies to employers with ten or more employees and carries a two-year limitations period, which is filed directly in state court without an administrative prerequisite.

The statute contains an important procedural trap. For claims based on disclosure to an outside agency, an employee must generally give the employer written notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct the practice before the protection applies. Missing that step can defeat an otherwise strong claim. Public sector employees follow a separate process with substantially shorter deadlines.

Qui Tam and False Claims Act Matters

Whistleblowers who report fraud against the government under the federal False Claims Act or the Florida False Claims Act help protect public funds and may receive a share of the money recovered. Given the concentration of healthcare systems, Medicare Advantage plans, and government contractors in South Florida, these matters arise frequently here. Cases are filed under seal and are procedurally demanding, which makes early and experienced counsel important.

Wrongful Termination

Florida is an at-will employment state, and it has no general public policy exception of the kind recognized in many other states. That makes the statutory exceptions the critical ground. A termination is unlawful if it is based on a protected characteristic, if it is retaliation for protected activity under a specific statute, if it breaches a contract or collective bargaining agreement, or if it violates a particular statutory protection such as the whistleblower act or workers' compensation retaliation.

Because Florida gives employers more latitude than New York or New Jersey, identifying the correct statutory hook early is often what determines whether a claim is viable.

Wage and Hour Claims

We handle unpaid overtime, minimum wage, unlawful deductions, tip credit and tip pooling violations, and misclassification of employees as independent contractors, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Florida law. These claims are common in Miami's hospitality, restaurant, construction, and healthcare sectors.

Florida's minimum wage is set by state constitutional amendment and increases annually on a scheduled path. Florida law contains a notice requirement that catches many claimants out: before filing a state minimum wage lawsuit, an employee must serve the employer with written notice and allow 15 calendar days to resolve the claim. FLSA claims carry a two-year limitations period, extended to three years for willful violations, and allow for liquidated damages and attorney's fees.

Severance Agreements

Severance agreements almost always contain a release of claims, and once signed they are difficult to undo. They may also contain non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality provisions with consequences that outlast the employment itself.

Florida enforces non-compete agreements more readily than most states, and recent amendments have expanded what employers can enforce against certain higher-earning employees. Have any agreement reviewed before you sign it, and be aware that workers aged 40 and over are entitled by federal law to a minimum period to consider a release of age claims and a seven-day period to revoke it after signing.