What Are the Handicap Laws in Florida? Housing, Jobs, Access

The handicap laws in Florida protect people with disabilities in employment, housing, public accommodations, parking, service animal access, and building design. The main sources are the Florida Civil Rights Act (Chapter 760), the Florida Fair Housing Act (Sections 760.20–760.37), Section 413.08 covering service animals and public-sector hiring, and the Florida Building Code at Chapter 553. Most of these track the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, but Florida adds its own requirements and its own complaint process through the Florida Commission on Human Relations.

Employment Protections

The Florida Civil Rights Act makes it illegal for an employer to fire, refuse to hire, or otherwise discriminate against someone because of a handicap. The ban reaches every part of the job: pay, assignments, promotions, and working conditions. Labor unions and employment agencies are covered too.¹

The law applies to employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in at least 20 calendar weeks during the current or preceding year. “Person” under the statute explicitly includes the state and governmental entities, so public agencies are covered alongside private employers.²

Florida courts read the state act consistently with the federal ADA, so the reasonable-accommodation and undue-hardship framework applies. An employer generally must modify the job or workplace so a qualified person with a disability can perform the essential functions of the position, unless doing so would create significant difficulty or expense given the employer’s size, resources, and the nature of the business.

Public-Sector Hiring

Section 413.08 adds a separate rule for government jobs. State and local government employers, public schools, and other publicly funded positions cannot refuse to hire someone based solely on a disability unless the disability actually prevents satisfactory job performance. Violating this provision is a second-degree misdemeanor.³

Housing Protections

The Florida Fair Housing Act forbids housing discrimination based on disability. A landlord or seller cannot refuse to rent or sell a dwelling, impose different terms, or deny services because someone has a disability.⁴ The statute defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such impairment, or being regarded as having one.⁵

Reasonable Modifications

A landlord must let a tenant with a disability make physical changes to the unit or common areas when the changes are necessary for full use of the home. Grab bars, wider doorways, and ramps are typical examples. The tenant usually pays. If the modification would affect a future tenant’s use of the unit, the landlord can require restoration at move-out.⁴

Reasonable Accommodations

Housing providers must also adjust rules, policies, or services when needed to give a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. Waiving a “no pets” policy for a service animal or emotional support animal is the common one. Giving a reserved accessible parking space is another. The provider generally absorbs the cost because no construction is involved.

When the disability and the need for an assistance animal are not obvious, the housing provider may ask for reliable documentation connecting the disability to the need for the animal.⁶ They cannot ask about the nature or severity of the disability itself.

Service Animals in Public Places

Section 413.08 lets a person with a disability bring a service animal into any public accommodation, including hotels, restaurants, retail stores, and public transportation. For public access, a service animal means a dog or miniature horse individually trained to perform tasks related to the person’s disability.⁷

A business cannot demand papers proving the animal is a service animal. Staff may ask only two questions: whether the animal is required because of a disability, and what task it has been trained to perform. No pet deposit or surcharge may be charged for a service animal, but the handler is responsible for any damage the animal causes.⁷

Emotional support animals are different. They are not trained to perform a specific task, so restaurants, stores, and other public accommodations are not required to admit them. Housing is the exception, as described above.

Penalties

Denying access to someone with a legitimate service animal is a second-degree misdemeanor. So is passing off a pet as a service animal, which carries up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500,⁸ plus 30 hours of community service for an organization serving people with disabilities, completed within six months.³

Disabled Parking

Florida requires a valid disabled parking permit (a placard or specialty plate) to use designated accessible spaces, and the vehicle must actually be transporting the permit holder. Leaving the placard on a car while the permit holder stays home is a violation.⁹

A vehicle that properly displays a disabled parking permit is exempt from parking meter fees on public streets statewide. State agencies, counties, and municipalities cannot charge these vehicles. Where a meter limits parking time, the exemption covers a maximum of four hours at no charge, and local governments may extend that by ordinance.¹⁰ A permit does not protect you from tickets in fire zones, bus loading zones, access aisles beside accessible spaces, no-parking zones, or emergency vehicle zones.

Someone chauffeuring a person with a disability may temporarily stand in a disabled parking space to load or unload the passenger without a permit, and no penalty may be imposed for that stop.⁹

Parking in a disabled space without authorization is a noncriminal traffic infraction. Counties must report outstanding disabled-parking violations to the state, which can place holds on vehicle registration renewals.¹¹

Building Accessibility

Florida adopted the federal ADA Standards for Accessible Design as state law through Section 553.503, so the ADA design standards carry the force of state law and are built into the Florida Accessibility Code for Building Construction.¹²

Section 553.504 then layers on Florida-specific requirements where they go further than the federal rules. All new single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, condominiums, and townhouses must include at least one bathroom on a habitable grade level with a door providing a minimum 29-inch clear opening. Hotels and motels must provide accessible features in at least 5 percent of guest rooms beyond the number already required by the ADA standards, including grab rails and open-frame beds that allow lift devices.¹³

For existing buildings, Section 553.504 requires removing barriers at common or emergency entrances and exits of businesses open to the public. Because Florida adopted the full ADA standards, the federal “readily achievable” barrier-removal duty also applies as state law. That standard asks whether a modification is easily accomplishable without significant difficulty or expense given the business’s resources and the nature of the change.¹²

How to File a Discrimination Complaint

The Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR) handles complaints about disability discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. You have 365 days from the discriminatory act to file.¹⁴ Complaints can go in online for employment and public accommodation claims, or by mail, fax, or in person.¹⁵

After the FCHR accepts a complaint, it offers mediation first. If mediation fails, the commission investigates and issues a determination on whether there is enough evidence to support the claim. If you are unsatisfied, you can request an administrative hearing or take the case to civil court.¹⁵

For an employment claim you can file with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission instead of, or at the same time as, the FCHR. The filing date with whichever agency you contact first counts for both. Because Florida has its own anti-discrimination agency, the federal filing deadline for employment claims extends from 180 days to 300 days.¹⁶

If your complaint is about physical accessibility at a business or government facility (a Title III ADA issue), you can file directly with the U.S. Department of Justice online or by mail. The DOJ review can take up to three months, and you can check status by calling the ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301.¹⁷

Tax Incentives for Businesses Improving Access

Two federal tax benefits help offset the cost of making a Florida business more accessible. The Disabled Access Credit under Section 44 of the Internal Revenue Code gives eligible small businesses a credit equal to 50 percent of accessibility spending between $250 and $10,250 in a year, for a maximum credit of $5,000. To qualify, the business must have had gross receipts under $1 million or no more than 30 full-time employees in the prior tax year.¹⁸

Separately, any business of any size can deduct up to $15,000 per year for expenses related to removing architectural and transportation barriers for people with disabilities. The deduction covers items that would otherwise need to be capitalized over time, giving an immediate write-off instead.¹⁹ The two benefits can be used together in the same year.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 760.10 – Unlawful Employment Practices
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 760.02 – Definitions
3
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 413.08 – Rights and Responsibilities of an Individual With a Disability
4
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 760.23 – Discrimination in the Sale or Rental of Housing
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 760.22 – Definitions
6
HUD.gov. Assistance Animals
7
FindLaw. Florida Code 413.08 – Rights and Responsibilities of an Individual With a Disability
8
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 775.082, 775.083 – Penalties and Fines
9
Justia Law. Florida Statutes 316.1955 – Enforcement of Parking Requirements for Persons Who Have Disabilities
10
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1964 – Exemption of Vehicles Transporting Certain Persons Who Have Disabilities From Payment of Parking Fees and Penalties
11
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1967 – Liability for Payment of Parking Violations
12
Florida Senate. Florida Code 553.503 – Adoption of Federal Standards
13
Florida Senate. Florida Code 553.504 – Exceptions to Applicability of the Federal Standards
14
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 760.11 – Administrative and Civil Remedies
15
Florida Commission on Human Relations. File a Complaint
16
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
17
ADA.gov. File a Complaint
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 44 – Expenditures to Provide Access to Disabled Individuals
19
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Benefits for Businesses That Accommodate People With Disabilities