Application of the Florida Civil Rights Act to Extraterritorial Employees in Sinclair V. De Jay Corp

The Florida Human Rights Act (FHRA) is a law that prohibits discrimination in employment, similar to a federal law called Title VII. A recent court case in Florida tested whether the FHRA applies to people and actions outside of Florida. The court decided to only look at the wording of the law itself, which could lead to a lot of lawsuits about when the law should be used. The Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) is a law that protects people from discrimination in Florida. It is similar to a federal law called Title VII. In a case called Sinclair v. De Jay Corporation, a woman named Sinclair claimed that she was treated unfairly by her employer, De Jay, in Florida. De Jay argued that the FCRA didn’t apply to them because they didn’t have enough employees in Florida, but the court had to decide whether that was true. This case shows how the FCRA can apply to situations where people are treated unfairly at work in Florida. The court decided that in Florida, a company must have at least 15 employees in the state to be considered an “employer” under the FCRA. This was based on the purpose of the FCRA to protect individuals in the state and on a previous case’s interpretation. The court also looked at how other federal courts have interpreted a similar law called Title VII. Based on this, the court decided that the FCRA should only apply to companies that meet the 15 employee requirement within Florida. The 11th Circuit Court reviewed a lower court’s decision in a case involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) but ultimately disagreed with the decision. Instead of considering the specific arguments made by the parties, the court simply relied on the “plain meaning” of the FCRA. This means they focused on the literal definition of the word “employer” in the FCRA and decided that it applied to the company involved in the case, even though it didn’t have 15 employees in Florida. The court said that the statute didn’t specifically require a company to have a certain number of employees in Florida, so the company still fell under the definition of “employer” in the FCRA. The court ruled that the purpose of the FCRA (Florida Civil Rights Act) doesn’t matter and only focused on the literal words of the law. They disagreed with the lower court’s idea that the law should only apply to Florida employees and said it should protect all Floridians. They also dismissed the opinions of other courts on similar laws and only focused on the specific wording of the FCRA. The court only focused on the exact words in the law, without considering other important factors. This could lead to some tricky situations, like someone from another state suing a company in Florida for discrimination, even if they have no real connection to Florida. This could cause some problems in the future. The plaintiff, who lives in Tennessee and works for a California company, is suing because she believes she’s being held back in her career because of her gender, while men are getting promoted. Even though she’s never worked in Florida, she’s still suing under Florida law because there’s nothing in the law saying it only applies to Florida. After a court case involving the Florida Civil Rights Act, the 11th Circuit court missed the chance to set clear limits on who can bring a lawsuit under the law. Because of this, foreign plaintiffs might be able to bring lawsuits in Florida courts, causing more legal battles. The court didn’t consider asking the Florida Supreme Court for guidance, and the state agency didn’t provide much help either. This could lead to more confusion and disputes in the future.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/application-of-the-florida-civil-rights-act-to-extraterritorial-employees-in-sinclair-v-de-jay-corp/