The Bring Your Gun to Work law — formally known as the Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act — requires Florida employers to revisit their policies addressing work-place violence.

Before the law took effect in July, employers could lawfully prohibit all firearms from com-pany property. Now, most Florida employers can-not rely on a total ban on firearms to promote workplace safety.

Contrary to common belief, a key part of the law does not permit all employees to bring their guns to the workplace. The definition of em-ployee is broad enough to include workers like independent contractors. Employees who legally own a firearm and have a concealed weapons permit can bring a gun to work, but only as long as the gun remains locked in the employee’s vehicle.

Employers still may prohibit employees from storing guns in employer-provided vehicles and bringing firearms into the actual workplace.

Employers cannot ask employees with valid con-cealed weapons permits whether they have a gun, search employee vehicles for guns or make employ-

ment decisions based on an employee storing a gun in a personal vehicle. But employers can take disciplinary action if an employee removes a fire-arm from a car unless it was removed for self-defense.

The law prevents em-ployers from conditioning employment on wheth-er an applicant has or doesn’t have a concealed weapons permit.

Exemptions cover schools; correctional fa-cilities; nuclear power facilities; businesses engaged in national de-fense or homeland se-curity; businesses that manufacture, store or transport combustible or explosive materials; and facilities where guns are prohibited under federal law. Employers in these categories may prohibit guns throughout their premises.

Plan of action

Although less than

3 percent of Floridians have concealed weap-ons permits, the law has larger implications for employers. First, educa-tion is needed. Employers have reported workers erroneously believe any-one can bring a firearm to work and firearms can be brought inside the work-place. Second, workplace policies and procedures should be revamped to ensure compliance with the law. Specifically, blan-ket gun bans and vehicle searches for firearms are not allowed. Third, em-ployers still must strive for workplace safety in-cluding compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.

Employers should con-sider the following:

• Implementing a ze-ro-tolerance workplace violence policy without a blanket firearms prohibi-tion.

• Establishing an emer-gency response plan for managers and supervi-

sors to address outbreaks of workplace violence in-cluding law enforcement contacts.

• Revising policies that permit employers to inspect vehicles for fire-arms.

• Educating and train-ing employees so they understand who may bring firearms to work and those entitled to store guns in their vehicles can-not remove them except for self-defense.

• Educating human resources personnel to ensure they do not ask impermissible questions during hiring and un-derstand how employees must comply with the law.

challenges to the law

Some aspects of the law already have been challenged. The most no-torious challenge arose when Walt Disney World told its employees that it would maintain a com-plete ban on guns in the workplace. A security guard sued after he was fired for refusing to an-swer questions about whether he had a gun in his vehicle and for refus-ing a vehicle search.

In August, the Florida attorney general’s office decided the attraction was exempt from the law

because the park stores and uses fireworks. The security guard dropped his lawsuit in September.

A challenge to the law brought by pro-employer organizations resulted in a significant narrowing of the law. In this case, a fed-eral judge in Tallahassee struck down the law’s provision making it illegal for employers to prohibit customers — with or without concealed weap-ons permits — from stor-ing guns in their cars as long as at least one em-ployee had a concealed weapons permit.

The judge found the customer language was unconstitutional, mean-ing employers may bar customers from storing firearms in vehicles.

While only a small percentage of the work force is allowed to bring firearms to work, the law has significant implica-tions for Florida employ-ers who must comply while maintaining a safe workplace. To stay out of the line of fire, employers should strongly consider seeking the advice of an employment lawyer. n

April Boyer is a partner and Robert Leitner is an as-sociate in K&L Gates’ Miami office, where they practice employment law, counsel-ing and representing Florida employers.

Boyer

Compliance with gun laws will keep employers in Florida out of line of fire

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This article is reprinted with permission from the Daily Business Review. © 2009

CoMMentARy April L. Boyer and Robert C. Leitner

Leitner