Key 2025 updates for employee manuals

Quick hits

• In 2025, employers in Florida face a complex landscape of the developing guidelines and legal requirements at the workplace, including updates to discrimination prevention, the holiday law and the protection of medical marijuana.
• Employers may want to check and update their job guidelines regularly to ensure that the laws are changed, especially in areas such as discrimination, harassment, guidelines and wage disputes.
• Important updates for employees of Florida employees in 2025 are the removal of references to outdated presidential instructions, the implementation of an appropriate suspicion test and the guarantee of compliance with new paid sick leave and family vacation laws.

Employers may want to regularly check and update their guidelines and procedures at work in order to ensure compliance with the developing laws. This can be particularly important for legal disputes that accept discrimination and harassment, guidelines, wage and hourly disputes and employment. This article emphasizes important employees of employees who may want to take Florida employers into account in 2025.

Discrimination, harassment and retribution half

Diversity, justice and inclusion (Dei) and EEO employment option (EEO). As one of his first acts, President Donald Trump granted six executive regulations (EO) that affect federal companies, subcontractors and subsidy recipients. One of these revoked EO 11246 (which demands affirmation of employment measures for minorities and women, published in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson) and set new certification requirements for “illegal DEI”. Influenced employers in Florida may want to remove manual references to EO 11246 and carefully check the DEI and EEO guidelines in order to ensure compliance with compliance and at the same time to respect state and local laws. For example, several counties in Florida have regulations for the protection of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Employer labor rules and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On February 14, 2025, the incumbent General Counsel William B. Cowen raised a series of memoranda, which were published by its predecessor, including those regarding the electronic monitoring of employees, restrictive covenants and others. The move effectively demands federal work law and signals a new political instruction for the NLRB under the Trump administration. Further changes will probably follow, including the potentially relaxing prior examination of other employer employment rules.

Medical marijuana protection. In a recent lawsuit ,, Giambrone against Hillsborough CountyA court in Florida donated a summary judgment in favor of a former public employee who had granted an unpaid administrative vacation after the positive test for presumed non -serving use of medical marijuana. In view of this decision, employers in Florida might want to add a reasonable suspicion of drug tests and an interactive disability process for existing drug test guidelines for applicants or employees who are medical marijuana card holders. Florida employers do not have to allow their employees to work under the influence of medical marijuana or to own marijuana on company ownership. Public employers in Florida may also want to monitor the previous House Bill 83 / Senate Bill 142, who, if he is adopted, would offer specific occupational safety for medical marijuana card holders.

Mandatory vacation

Paid illness vacation (PSL). The PSL laws constantly develop, with eighteen states and Washington, DC, PSL requirements. In 2025, Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska were added to this list. In recent years, states such as California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Washington have increased the necessary hours and expanded the reasons for permission. Employers in Florida may want to make sure that the existing paid guidelines in other states and locations may not be compliant. A manual supplement or a separate state directive may be required, including for remote workers. Understanding which laws apply is of crucial importance for compliance.

Family and medical vacation (FML). Ten states and Washington, DC, have mandatory paid FML programs with additional states such as Delaware, Maine and Minnesota, which are to be implemented shortly, and Maryland, in which elements of the program can be delayed by 2027. While Florida no obligatory FML-FML-FML level The state level has the workers' violations in the nationwide, in which Miami-Dade district is not able. Maintaining a grandparent with a serious state of health. From 2023, Florida's insurance law contains voluntarily Paid family vacation as a new form of insurance.

Jury mandatory. Florida's law offers employees general protection if they work in the jury or as a witness in court proceedings. Local regulations in the Broward and Miami-Dade districts require the jury for certain employees.

Wage and hourly guidelines

Time measurement and payment. Wage and hourly disputes are still one of the most frequently submitted types of employment disputes in Florida and is one of the most common classes or collective measures across the country. Employers may want to consider saying goodbye to guidelines in which the employees have to thoroughly check their time and pay records to ensure accuracy. Many employee manuals do not offer specific contact information for employees to pay concerns about their hours and to pay, so that employers susceptible to the argument that the employees had no way of solving symptoms. Employers may also want to include a provision that prohibits retaliation against employees who submit complaints about their hours or payment.

Children's work laws. The latest changes to the children's work laws in Florida issued in 2024 can affect political provisions for employers with minors at the workplace. The restrictions on working hours and working days were alleviated for minors sixteen and seventeen years old. An updated poster is also available.

Separate legal exclusions and contracts

Liability. Employers may want to consider to expressly accept an exclusion of liability at the beginning of their manuals that the manual does not represent a contract that the employer can change the guidelines without prior notice, and repeats the experience of the employment relationship. In addition, contracts and other legally binding instruments – including non -competence, non -demand and confidentiality agreements as well as arbitration agreements and publications of liability – should be kept separate from the manual. This helps the employers to enforce these obligations after employment and can protect the entire manual from being interpreted as a contract. In order to avoid conflicts with official plands, it may be best to communicate details of the employees of employees separately from the manual.

Introductory periods. The implementation of an initial introductory time of up to ninety calendar days can be an advantage for Florida employers when defending unemployment claims. The dismissal of an employee due to unsatisfactory performance during this period can avoid that unemployment benefits against the employer's support in accordance with Section 443.131, Florida Statute are presented. Employers must inform the introductory time within the first seven working days of the employee, which can be achieved by a handbook confirmation.

Recognition of employees. Employers may want to make it a standard practice of receiving signed confirmations from all employees if they receive the manual and if there are significant updates. Consider giving instructions on how employees can access or receive copies of the manual. In the event of legal disputes, this can be crucial if an employee claims that he or she did not know certain guidelines or procedures.

Language barriers. If an essential part of the workforce does not exist in English, the translation of the recognition and the manual into the primary languages ​​spoken by the employees can be an advantage. This ensures that all employees can understand the content, especially with the prevalence of Spaniards in Florida.