Year-End Roundup: What Employers Need to Know About Legal Changes in Florida

Quick Hits

• In 2025, Florida enacted new laws concerning restrictive covenants with employees, workers’ compensation rules, and insurance coverage for fertility preservation services.
• A recent court ruling overruled the state’s ban on open carry of guns.
• Another recent court ruling permitted medical marijuana consumption while off duty by a public employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Several new laws and two court cases will affect legal compliance for employers in Florida. These include the following:

• On September 10, 2025, in McDaniels v. State of Florida, Florida’s First District Court of Appeal determined the state’s open carry ban was in violation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued guidance advising that open carry should be considered lawful throughout the state. Schools, government buildings, airport passenger terminals, and places primarily serving alcohol remain gun-free zones under state and federal law, and improper exhibition of firearms continues to be illegal there. Retail establishments may prohibit customers, vendors, and the general public from bringing weapons onto their properties. 
• On April 24, 2025, lawmakers passed the CHOICE Act, which stands for “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth.” It creates two new forms of restrictive covenant agreements for businesses and employees, permitting a four-year noncompete agreement with a notice requirement and minimum salary requirement, as well as a four-year garden leave noncompete agreement. The law took effect on July 3, 2025, without the governor’s signature.
• Starting on January 1, 2025, Senate Bill 362 increased the maximum reimbursement amounts for medical providers treating patients receiving workers’ compensation.  Florida law requires that all employers with workers’ compensation coverage provide their employees who are injured on the job with all medically necessary treatment throughout their recovery. This includes transportation, diagnostic tests, scans, and prescriptions, and can even extend to complications or related conditions.
• Lawmakers passed a bill to require state health insurance plans to cover medically necessary fertility preservation services. The law took effect on July 3, 2025, without the governor’s signature. It applies to insurance policies issued on or after January 1, 2026.
• In December 2024, the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida ruled in Giambrone v. Hillsborough County that a public employer must accommodate off-site medical marijuana use, granting summary judgment in favor of a former employee, an emergency medical technician who was covered by a collective bargaining agreement and was placed on unpaid administrative leave after testing positive for marijuana. The case is under appeal in Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. In the meantime, Florida employers may wish to enter into an interactive disability accommodation process with job applicants or employees who are medical marijuana cardholders. Recreational marijuana use remains illegal in Florida, but medical marijuana use is lawful for adults ages twenty-one and older with a valid Medical Marijuana Use Registry card.

Ogletree Deakins’ Miami and Tampa offices will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Drug Testing, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, Florida, Retail, Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets, Workplace Safety and Health, and Workplace Violence Prevention blogs as new information becomes available.

In addition, the Ogletree Deakins Client Portal tracks developments and provides real-time updates on Florida employment laws. (Full law summaries and Florida templates are available for Premium-level subscribers; Snapshots and Updates are available for all registered client-users.) For more information on the Client Portal or a Client Portal subscription, please reach out to clientportal@ogletree.com.

Dee Anna D. Hays is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Tampa office.

Michael D. Mitchell is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins’ Miami office.

This article was co-authored by Leah J. Shepherd, who is a writer in Ogletree Deakins’ Washington, D.C., office.

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