Workers Who Fall Through Cracks of Florida Labor Law Now Have an Option

May 12, 2010, 8:00AM. By Gordon Gibb

Miami, FLA new Florida labor law is set to strengthen protections of Miami Dade employees against wage theft—an admittedly broad term when it comes to Florida employment law. However, the primary intent of this new ordinance (as it applies to Miami-Dade) is to prevent employers from delaying or withholding pay from low-wage earners for any reason.

Miami-Dade is the first county in the US to pass an ordinance protecting workers from wage theft, which can take on many forms, according to the 5/6/10 Broward Metro edition of the Sun-Sentinel. Various south Florida legal services and community groups report situations in which domestic workers are paid for 40-hour weeks but are expected to be available at all hours. Construction workers have gone unpaid after projects are halted due to financial difficulty.

Hourly workers commonly complain that they are told to clock out and then instructed to "finish up" before leaving—in essence, to perform work without pay.

The new wage theft ordinance in Miami-Dade provides low-wage earners some recourse for justice, especially in areas where Florida state law or federal law does not apply. Workers who clean small hotels and motels (of which there are hundreds in this tourism Mecca), domestic workers who clean houses, and those who care for children or the infirm are not adequately protected under Florida labor law as it currently stands.

Many workers are afraid to lose their jobs if they complain. In other cases, employers will invite the worker to small claims court, which invariably proves too expensive for the employee. Workers will usually back down in the face of potentially high court costs.

Now they have an avenue through which to fight back.

"We had a man in my congregation who was paid $200 for working a 45-hour week in a local business," says Father Hallock Martin of the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in West Palm Beach. "We think it's much more common than was actually talked about, especially in service, restaurant and service personnel."

The new ordinance in Miami-Dade, which went into effect on March 1, currently requires employers to pay their employees promptly within 14 calendar days. The ordinance will likely be amended to allow for those employers who already adhere to an established pay schedule, as the 14-day turnaround could prove unwieldy for employers who routinely pay bi-monthly.

A proven wage violation under the ordinance will require that the offending employer pay the employee a sum equal to three times the amount of back wages, including "liquidated damages as compensation for the economic losses suffered by reason of the employee not receiving his or her wage at the time it was due." The employer will also be responsible for any and all costs related to the hearing.

The Sun-Sentinel reports that Palm Beach County is considering a similar ordinance. Others may follow, in a bid to strengthen worker protection under Florida labor law, especially for those who do not qualify for protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act.