Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron Desantis signed an Executive Order prohibiting businesses from requiring that customers show proof of vaccination against COVID-19. That Order was then signed into law. However, a federal judge has just temporarily prohibited the enforcement of that law, in an order that came out today, August 8, 2021.

The order was the result of a lawsuit filed by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd. against the Florida State Surgeon General. (As an aside, for those of you who are not familiar with my career path, I will add that I spent almost 4 years working for NCL before law school, so the company will always have a special place in my heart.) In any event, NCL was set to have its ship, the Norwegian Gem (pictured above), depart from South Florida on August 15, 2021. It was to be NCL’s first cruise out of Florida since all of its cruise operations stopped last year. In order to ensure that the ship’s passengers and crew were as protected from COVID-19 infection as possible, NCL adopted several precautionary measures, including requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination from its passengers prior to boarding. This is where the lawsuit comes in.

Under section 381.00316(1), Florida Statutes, NCL would have been prohibited from requiring documentary proof of vaccination of its passengers. With the August 15, 2021 sail date approaching, NCL’s lawyers asked the federal court to swiftly enter an order that would prohibit the enforcement of the law and allow NCL to require proof of vaccination from its guests. Today, the Court agreed and entered an order temporarily halting the enforcement of the Florida law. You can read the 59-page order by clicking here.

In the order, the Court described how the Florida law violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as the Dormant Commerce Clause. However, this is just a preliminary injunction, and short of Florida taking legislative action to strike the law, the case will proceed to a final hearing on a permanent injunction. Based on the wording of today’s order, it seems that a permanent injunction is likely to follow. In the interim, the state of Florida could file an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, although it is unknown at this time whether that will occur.

The effects of this preliminary injunction order are likely to reach well-beyond the cruise industry, though. As I discussed in a previous blog entry, the order supports that private sector employers can, in fact, require proof of vaccination of employees. The Court stated:

“Finally, because the Statute does not regulate employers, it does not prohibit employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccination documentation for continued employment or adopting policies that favor vaccinated over unvaccinated employees, such as disallowing unvaccinated employees to return to the worksite or assigning them different work.”

Not only could employers use this case to support mandatory vaccination policies, but it is likely that this case will be used to support the recent lawsuits filed by several Florida school districts as to Governor Desantis’s Executive Order that would deny state funding to school districts that require students to wear masks. Executive Order 21-175 can be found by clicking here. Some school districts who are fighting this issue in court include Miami-Dade County, Orange County (includes Orlando), Hillsborough County (includes Tampa), Alachua County (includes Gainesville), and Palm Beach County.

As more and more people begin to return to brick-and-mortar establishments for recreation, work, and school, I have no doubt that more lawsuits will follow these. Stay tuned!