Miami-Dade Wage Theft Ordinance Amended

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Noel Tripp

Reacting to outcry from the employer community, on June 3, 2010 the Miami-Dade County (FL) County Commission amended its recently enacted wage ordinance which defined “wage theft” as failing to pay an employee any portion of his or her wages within 14 calendar days of the work having been performed. Prior to this amendment, the ordinance potentially rendered all semi-monthly pay plans unlawful with respect to covered employees. This amendment will become effective June 13th unless vetoed by the Mayor. A veto is not expected.

The revised Ordinance provides that it is lawful for an employer to pay wages either:

  1. no later than 14 calendar days from the date on which the work was performed, or
  1. pursuant to any other pay schedule that an employer has established, by policy or practice, “whereby employees earn and are consistently paid wages according to regularly recurring pay periods.”

The potential penalties for “wage theft” violations, which include back wages, liquidated damages, treble damages based on economic losses resulting from non-payment and costs and attorney's fees, remain unchanged.

More extensive discussion and best practices guidelines regarding the new law are available here.

 

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New Miami-Dade Wage Theft Ordinance - Another Compliance Issue For South Florida Employers

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Noel Tripp

Federal law merely mandates that employers pay employees as promptly as possible.  State and local laws often require employers to pay wages no less frequently than weekly/bi-weekly/semi-monthly or monthly.  And often these requirements differ based on the type of employees.  For example, in New York, only manual workers need to be paid weekly but most other workers generally need to be paid no less frequently than semi-monthly.

Florida law does not impose any direct pay frequency requirements on employers.  However, the recently enacted Miami-Dade Wage Theft Ordinance requires private sector employers to pay all employees employed in Miami-Dade County within 14 days from the date the employee performed the work, absent a written agreement between the employer and employee extending such time period to 30 days.    Damages for violations (i.e., late payment of wages in excess of $60) are three times the back wages owed, and supervisors can be individually liable for violations.

Employers with multi-state locations must constantly stay abreast of state laws.

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