The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of a key provision contained in Florida’s Individual Freedom Act. The Individual Freedom Act, more commonly known as the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” was passed in 2022 as part of what supporters believe to be an initiative to protect employees against a hostile work environment due to critical race theory training. It expanded Florida’s anti-discrimination laws to prohibit workplace trainings endorsing certain beliefs relating to race, color, sex, and national origin on the basis that such trainings constitute unlawful discrimination. The mandatory meeting provision of the act was only in place for seven weeks before a preliminary injunction was issued preventing its enforcement. Now, with the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, Florida employers are permitted to continue conducting their mandatory workplace trainings without regard to the act.

The act placed limitations on the topics Florida employers could discuss at mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training programs. Specifically, it created potential civil liability for Florida employers who mandated attendance at a training “that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates or compels each student to believe” any of the eight concepts relating to race, color, national origin, and sex listed in the act. The act specifically stated that it “shall constitute discrimination on the basis of race, color, national original, or sex” to subject any employee to mandatory training sessions that endorsed the eight concepts contained in the act. The act could be enforced through employee-initiated lawsuits or through regulatory action. Employers who violated the act were subject to severe financial penalties, including back pay, compensatory damages, and punitive damages up to $100,000, along with injunctive relief.