Palm Beach County To Stengthen Equal Employment Ordinance

Palm Beach County Commission

December 8, 2020 At today's meeting, Palm Beach County Commissioners unanimously voted to amend the county's Equal Employment Ordinance by expanding protection against discrimination to job applicants and employees at small businesses throughout the county Currently, only employees working for businesses in Palm Beach County with 15 or more employees are protected from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, genetic information, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, familial status or age. However, employees working for small businesses throughout Palm Beach County -- those with between 5 and 14 employees -- should be protected from discrimination when the law takes effect following a final vote on January 12, 2021.

"The County's Equal Employment Ordinance is poised to be one of the strongest civil rights laws in the State of Florida," said County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, who brought the amendment before the County Commission at the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC). PBCHRC is Florida's oldest, independent, non-partisan, political organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Over the past three decades, PBCHRC has been responsible for the implementation of more than 150 laws and policies providing equal protections, rights and benefits for the LGBTQ community. "Palm Beach County has been in the forefront of protecting workers from discrimination for the past three decades," said PBCHRC President and Founder Rand Hoch. "Today, County Commissioners took one more step to protect women and minorities from discrimination in employment."