Florida Republicans passed today, a bill that would prohibit cities and counties from establishing a non-judicial system to settle wage disputes between low wage workers and their employers.
HB 609, a “wage theft” bill, was approved along party lines in a 77-38 vote, by the Florida House of Representatives.
In 2010, given the rampant abuse of workers by unscrupulous employers, Miami-Dade passed a measure allowing for wage disputes to be settled by administrative hearings, which became a model for several other cities and counties. HB 609 essentially overturns the Miami-Dade law.
“I am devastated for the hard-working employees of Florida, especially those in Miami-Dade,” said Rep. Daphne Campbell (D-Miami), in a statement. “Prior to this bad bill, Miami-Dade employees were protected from having their rightfully earned wages from being stolen from ill-intentioned employers.”
Supporters of HB 609 argue that disputes between workers should be handled through the courts and the Miami-Dade ordinance violates employers rights.
Upon passage of the bill, Rep. Hazelle Rogers (D-Lauderhill) said the protection of the rights of workers to be paid for work performed, was a serious issue.
“House Bill 609 will not only take away the ability of local government to address the issue with no solution offered at the state level, it also denies the claimant the right to a class action to enforce such unpaid wage claims,” she said.
Far from weakening the protection of workers rights, by comparison, in 2011, the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA) expanded employer requirements to notify new hires and current employees of certain wage information, and sanctions were increased for non-compliance.
A companion bill, SB 862, has not yet made it out of the Florida Senate.
