A newly released study finds that millions of Floridians are being shortchanged out of money they are owed by their employer, which is a violation of wage and overtime laws. The Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University calls it “wage theft” and the data for the study comes from the U.S. Department of Labor. Basically, wage theft means the employer withheld wages owed the employee, whether a regular salary for hours put in on the job or overtime that was not paid. Other ways that employers steal from employees is by not paying the minimum wage, forcing the employee to work during his or her meal break or after he or she is off the clock, and illegally deducting money from the worker’s earnings.
The worst offenders are some of Florida’s top employers in the fields of tourism, retail, and construction, yet there has reportedly not been one single civil action brought against employers to enforce the minimum wage law.
Reportedly there are 3,036 wage violations reported each year to the state’s Wage and Hour Division.
The Miami-Dade County’s Small Business Development agency has cracked down on the country’s anti-wage theft ordinance, which was passed in September 2010. So far, $400,000 has been recovered in unpaid wages in Florida, which will go to 313 workers who had the money illegally withheld. A Department of Labor crackdown has recovered close to $16 million in unpaid wages, which will go to 24,000 workers in six Florida counties.
While this is good news for employees, a state Senate committee of the legislature is working on a bill that would ban local ordinances from cracking down on anti-wage theft. The bill is supported by the business lobby the Florida Retail Federation, which states that laws already exist that address wage theft.
Farah & Farah has an experienced team of Florida labor law lawyers who will be on your side to help you resolve wage and hour disputes, workers’ compensation, and social security disability. Call us at (800) 533-3555 so we can get started on your case.
Source: http://floridaindependent.com/66083/wage-theft-epidemic; http://www.florida-wageandhourlaw.com/
