On November 18, 2021, Florida Governor DeSantis signed House Bill 1B into law, imposing a series of requirements on employers in the Sunshine State who seek to impose COVID-19 vaccination mandates on their workforce. The statute itself left employers grappling with many questions as to the scope of the law, definitions of key terms, and methods of enforcement.
Some of these questions were answered on December 2, 2021, when the Florida Department of Legal Affairs issued Emergency Rule 2ER21-1 (the “Emergency Rule”) defining various terms used in the Florida law and establishing the complaint procedure for challenges to private employer vaccine mandates under sections 381.00317(3) and (4), Florida Statutes.
