Florida family and medical leave law is located in the following sections of the Florida Statutes.
- 110.221 Parental or family medical leave.
- 110.152. Adoption by state employee of special needs child.
- 383.015 Breastfeeding. A mother may breastfeed in a public or private location.
- 741.313 Domestic violence victims leave
Title X - Public Officers, Employees, And Records - Chapter 110
Sec. 110.219 Attendance and leave; general policies.
(1) The workday for each full-time state employee shall be 8 hours or as otherwise justified by the agency head.
(2) Overtime may be required for any employee.
(3) The granting of any leave of absence, with or without pay, shall be in writing and shall be approved by the
agency head. An employee who is granted leave of absence with or without pay shall be an employee of the state
while on such leave and shall be returned to the same position or a different position in the same class and same
work location upon termination of the approved leave of absence. The agency head and the employee may agree in
writing to other conditions and terms under which the leave is to be granted.
(4) Each agency shall keep an accurate record of all hours of work performed by each employee, as well as a complete
and accurate record of all authorized leave which is approved. The ultimate responsibility for the accuracy and
proper maintenance of all attendance and leave records shall be with the agency head.
(5) Rules shall be adopted by the department in cooperation and consultation with the agencies to implement the
provisions of this section; however, such rules must be approved by the Administration Commission prior to their
adoption. Such rules must provide for, but need not be limited to:
(a) The maximum responsibility and authority resting with each agency head to administer attendance and leave
matters in the agency within the parameters of the rules adopted by the department.
(b) Creditable service in which 1 month of service credit is awarded for each calendar month that the employee
is on the payroll of a state agency or during which the employee is on authorized leave without pay.
(c) Holidays as provided in s. 110.117.
(d) Overtime provisions.
(e) Annual leave provisions.
(f) Sick leave provisions.
(g) Parental leave provisions.
(h) Family medical leave provisions.
(i) Disability leave provisions.
(j) Compulsory disability leave provisions.
(k) Administrative leave provisions.
(l) Military leave provisions.
(m) Educational leave with pay provisions.
(n) Leave of absence without pay provisions.
(6) The leave benefits provided to Senior Management Service employees shall not exceed those provided to employees
in the Selected Exempt Service.
(7) Each December, a permanent career service employee shall be entitled, subject to available funds, to a payout
of up to 24 hours of unused annual leave as follows:
(a) A permanent career service employee must have an annual leave balance of no less than 24 hours, after the payout,
in order to qualify for this benefit.
(b) No permanent career service employee shall receive a payout of greater than 240 hours over the course of the
employee's career with the state, including any leave received at the time of separation.
Sec. 110.221 Parental or family medical leave.
(1) As used in this section, the term "family" means a child, parent, or spouse, and the term "family
medical leave" means leave requested by an employee for a serious family illness including an accident, disease,
or condition that poses imminent danger of death, requires hospitalization involving an organ transplant, limb
amputation, or other procedure of similar severity, or any mental or physical condition that requires constant
in-home care. The term "parental leave" means leave for the father or mother of a child who is born to
or adopted by that parent.
(2) The state shall not:
(a) Terminate the employment of any employee in the career service because of the pregnancy of the employee
or the employee's spouse or the adoption of a child by that employee.
(b) Refuse to grant to a career service employee parental or family medical leave without pay for a period not
to exceed 6 months. Such leave shall commence on a date that is determined by the employee in consultation with
the attending physician following notification to the employer in writing, and that is approved by the employer.
(c) Deny a career service employee the use of and payment for annual leave credits for parental or family medical
leave. Such leave shall commence on a date determined by the employee in consultation with the attending physician
following notification to the employer in writing.
(d) Deny a career service employee the use of and payment for accrued sick leave or family sick leave for any reason
deemed necessary by a physician or as established by policy.
(e) Require that a career service employee take a mandatory parental or family medical leave.
(3) Upon returning at the end of parental or family medical leave of absence, such employee shall be reinstated
to the same job or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay and with seniority, retirement, fringe benefits,
and other service credits accumulated prior to the leave period. If any portion of the parental or family medical
leave is paid leave, the employee shall be entitled to accumulate all benefits granted under paid leave status.
Sec. 110.152. Adoption by state employee of special needs child.
(1)
(a) Any employee of the state or of a water management district who adopts a special-needs child, as defined
in paragraph (b), is eligible to receive a monetary benefit in the amount of $10,000 per child, $5,000 of which
is payable in equal monthly installments over a 2-year period. Any employee of the state or of a water management
district who adopts a child, other than a special-needs child as defined in paragraph (b), shall be eligible to
receive a monetary benefit in the amount of $5,000 per child, $2,000 of which is payable in equal monthly installments
over a 2-year period.
(b) For purposes of this section, a "special-needs child" is a child whose permanent custody has been
awarded to the Department of Children and Family Services or to a Florida-licensed child-placing agency and who
is not likely to be adopted because he or she is:
1. Eight years of age or older.
2. A person with a developmental disability.
3. A person with a physical or emotional handicap.
4. Of a minority race or of a racially mixed heritage.
5. A member of a sibling group of any age, provided that two or more members of a sibling group remain together
for the purposes of adoption.
(2) An employee of the state or of a water management district who adopts a special-needs child must apply to
his or her agency head to obtain the monetary benefit provided in subsection (1). Applications must be on forms
approved by the department and must include a certified copy of the final order of adoption naming the applicant
as the adoptive parent.
(3) Nothing in this section shall affect the right of any state employee who adopts a special-needs child to receive
financial aid for adoption expenses pursuant to s. 409.166 or any other statute that provides financial incentives
for the adoption of children.
(4) Any employee of the state or of a water management district who has a child placed in the custody of the employee
for adoption, and who continues to resides in the same household as the child placed for adoption, shall be granted
parental leave for a period not to exceed 6 months as provided in s. 110.221.
Title XXIX - Public Health
Chapter 383 - Maternity And Infancy Hygiene
Sec. 383.015 Breastfeeding.
The breastfeeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture which must be encouraged in the interests
of maternal and child health and family values, and in furtherance of this goal:
(1) A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized
to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother's breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.
(2) A facility lawfully providing maternity services or newborn infant care may use the designation "baby-friendly"
if it establishes a breastfeeding policy in accordance with s. 383.016.
Sec. 383.016 Breastfeeding policy for "baby-friendly" facilities providing maternity services and
newborn infant care.
A facility lawfully providing maternity services or newborn infant care may use the designation "baby-friendly"
on its promotional materials if the facility has complied with at least 80 percent of the requirements developed
by the Department of Health in accordance with UNICEF and World Health Organization baby-friendly hospital initiatives.
741.313. Domestic violence victims leave.
(1) As used in this section, the term:
(a) "Domestic violence" means domestic violence, as defined in s.
741.28, or any crime the underlying factual basis of which has been
found by a court to include an act of domestic violence.
(b) "Employee" has the same meaning as in s. 440.02(15).
(c) "Employer" has the same meaning as in s. 440.02(16).
(d) "Family or household member" has the same meaning as in s. 741.28.
(e) "Victim" means an individual who has been subjected to domestic violence.
(2)
(a) An employer shall permit an employee to request and take up to 3
working days of leave from work in any 12-month period if the employee
or a family or household member of an employee is the victim of
domestic violence. This leave may be with or without pay, at the
discretion of the employer.
(b) This section applies if an employee uses the leave from work to:
1. Seek an injunction for protection against domestic violence or an
injunction for protection in cases of repeat violence, dating violence,
or sexual violence;
2. Obtain medical care or mental health counseling, or both, for the
employee or a family or household member to address physical or
psychological injuries resulting from the act of domestic violence;
3. Obtain services from a victim-services organization, including, but
not limited to, a domestic violence shelter or program or a rape crisis
center as a result of the act of domestic violence;
4. Make the employee's home secure from the perpetrator of the domestic
violence or to seek new housing to escape the perpetrator; or
5. Seek legal assistance in addressing issues arising from the act of
domestic violence or to attend and prepare for court-related
proceedings arising from the act of domestic violence.
(3) This section applies to an employer who employs 50 or more
employees and to an employee who has been employed by the employer for
3 or more months.
(4)
(a) Except in cases of imminent danger to the health or safety of the
employee, or to the health or safety of a family or household member,
an employee seeking leave from work under this section must provide to
his or her employer appropriate advance notice of the leave as required
by the employer's policy along with sufficient documentation of the act
of domestic violence as required by the employer.
(b) An employee seeking leave under this section must, before receiving
the leave, exhaust all annual or vacation leave, personal leave, and
sick leave, if applicable, which is available to the employee, unless
the employer waives this requirement.
(c)
1. A private employer must keep all information relating to the employee's leave under this section confidential.
2. An agency, as defined in s. 119.011, must keep information relating
to the employee's leave under this section confidential and exempt from
disclosure to the extent authorized by subsection (7).
(5)
(a) An employer may not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise
of or any attempt by an employee to exercise any right provided under
this section.
(b) An employer may not discharge, demote, suspend, retaliate, or in
any other manner discriminate against an employee for exercising his or
her rights under this section.
(c) An employee has no greater rights to continued employment or to
other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee was
not entitled to leave under this section. This section does not limit
the employer's right to discipline or terminate any employee for any
reason, including, but not limited to, reductions in work force or
termination for cause or for no reason at all, other than exercising
his or her rights under this section.
(6) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the sole remedy for
any person claiming to be aggrieved by a violation of this section is
to bring a civil suit for damages or equitable relief, or both, in
circuit court. The person may claim as damages all wages and benefits
that would have been due the person up to and including the date of the
judgment had the act violating this section not occurred, but the
person may not claim wages or benefits for a period of leave granted
without pay as provided in paragraph (2)(a). However, this section does
not relieve the person from the obligation to mitigate his or her
damages.
(7)
(a) Personal identifying information that is contained
in records documenting an act of domestic violence and that is
submitted to an agency, as defined in chapter 119, by an agency
employee under the requirements of this section is confidential
and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
Constitution.
(b) A written request for leave which is submitted by an
agency employee under the requirements of this section and any
agency time sheet that reflects such a request are confidential
and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
Constitution until 1 year after the leave has been taken.
(c) This subsection is subject to the Open Government
Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15, and shall stand
repealed on October 2, 2012, unless reviewed and saved from
repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.