As Florida’s local governments increasingly turn to variations of mask ordinances to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, small businesses worry that they’ll be drawn into new legal entanglements.
“This patchwork of local regulations has created confusion and underscored the challenges small businesses face as they struggle to recover from the shutdown,” Bill Herrle, Florida state director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), said in a prepared statement.
Local governments that have passed ordinances requiring masks in indoor situations where social distancing may be difficult include Broward County, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Miami and Orange County. The list also now includes Jacksonville, where the Republican National Convention will be held in August.
Most businesses support mask requirements, but it’s problematic when businesses are put in the position of trying to force customers to wear masks, according to Herrle. Business owners can certainly require employees to wear them or put customers on notice about local ordinances, but business can’t be placed in the position of policing, he said.
"Businesses need to inquire with whoever is issuing these mask ordinances for some real clarity,” Herrle told the Florida Record. “There are some difficult circumstances built right into those ordinances if they require in any regard business owners to police mask wearing at their businesses by customers."
Under some versions of these ordinances, business owners could be held criminally liable if customers balk at wearing masks, according to the Florida NFIB. And businesses have also expressed concerns that trial attorneys could use such ordinances to exploit the pandemic, Herrle said.
“There can be lawsuits based on businesses selectively enforcing this on the public,” he said. “We’re not going to back away from highlighting some of these concerns.”
The Florida NFIB has called on the state legislature to pass legislation to prevent frivolous litigation against businesses that are doing all they can to protect their customers and employees during the COVID-19 situation. But legislative leaders have indicated they’re not inclined to hold a special session prior to the November election, according to Herrle.
Though no lawsuits against businesses have yet been filed stemming from the local mask ordinances, more than two-thirds of the Florida NFIB members have expressed concern over liability issues as the state economy reopens, he said.
“A large majority are totally supportive of the mask requirements,” Herrle said. “But they can’t be asked to police it.”