Elite Legal Skill Exceptional Client Service

Elite Legal Skill Exceptional Client Service

Are Employees Allowed to Bring Their Guns into Work?

On Behalf of | Oct 24, 2019 | Firm News |

EmpLaw

Throughout the past few years Florida has been overwhelmed with a number of notorious mass shootings. However, the State of Florida laws persist in the preference of the State’s closely followed pro-gun rights interpretation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

As a result, even in circumstances where Florida employers try to limit the existence of guns on their own property for the purpose of security, they are not allowed to do so under current Florida law.

The Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act was passed because Florida’s legislature sought to put into law the time-honored legislative policy that citizens have a constitutional right to keep and carry arms. The Florida legislature’s position is that the Second Amendment right includes a citizen’s lawful ownership, transportation, and securely having guns and ammo within his or her car.

Restrictions of Florida’s Gun Laws

Consequently, the Act levied the below restrictions on a majority of private companies and public employers:

  • Employers are forbidden from conditioning an employee’s job on the basis that the worker owns a legally licensed gun.
  • Employers are not allowed to stop employees from possessing a legal gun locked inside their vehicles, even when their vehicle is parked in the employer’s parking lot, as long as the gun itself is kept for a lawful reason.
  • Companies are not allowed to prevent clients or invited visitors from possessing a legally owned gun locked in their vehicles while on the company’s private property.
  • Companies cannot ask questions regarding the existence of a gun inside of an employee’s, client’s, or invited visitor’s car.
  • Companies are not allowed to search cars on their property for guns. Only law enforcement may perform these types of searches. Also, the searches must be founded upon due process.
  • Employers are not allowed to terminate employment or discriminate against any employees because of their choice to implement their constitutional right to keep and carry arms or for exercising self-defense, as long as the employees do not show off their guns on company property for any reason other than lawful defensive reasons. 

There are some exceptions to the above rules for schools, jails, prisons, nuclear power plants, and employers linked to homeland security, aerospace and national defense. Additionally, if the employee drives a company car, the employer does not have to permit the employee to keep a firearm inside.

Under the Act, employers can be found legally responsible for any damages in the case that they infringe on the gun rights of employees, clients or invited visitors.

Contact Our Influential West Palm Beach Law Firm

Our West Palm Beach employment & labor law lawyers have over 100 years of experience serving our clients’ legal needs. If you have any questions or concerns regarding how Florida gun laws may impact your company, or about firearms laws in the place of work, you should contact us.

Our lawyers can assist you draft employment policies that do not infringe on employees’ gun rights. After all, the last thing you want is an employee, client or visitor filing a claim for violating their gun rights. If an employee has already filed a claim for violating their rights, our knowledgeable attorneys will tenaciously and aggressively defend your business.

When businesses want the best possible outcome, they hire Pincus & Currier. Call our West Palm Beach labor & employment lawyers at 561-868-1340 or contact us online to find out more about how we can help your business avoid violating employees’ gun rights.