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Editorial: St. Petersburg should embrace wage theft ordinance

 
Proposed by City Council member Darden Rice, St. Petersburg’s wage theft ordinance would provide a relief valve for workers involved in pay disputes with their employers.
Proposed by City Council member Darden Rice, St. Petersburg’s wage theft ordinance would provide a relief valve for workers involved in pay disputes with their employers.
Published April 1, 2015

St. Petersburg has an opportunity to be a leader in Tampa Bay by passing an ordinance that would provide workers with a way to resolve wage disputes at the local level. The City Council is scheduled to take up the issue today and should fill a void where federal and state enforcement has fallen short. The proposed ordinance is a bold plan that would make it easier for workers to file wage theft complaints, hold employers accountable and ultimately receive pay for time worked.

Proposed by council member Darden Rice, St. Petersburg's wage theft ordinance would provide a relief valve for workers involved in pay disputes with their employers. Workers who have a variety of wage theft issues — ranging from being forced to work off the clock to being paid less than the minimum wage — will have one year after their expected pay date to file a complaint with the city clerk. Employers will receive notice of valid complaints and have a chance to settle the matter on their own. If that fails, a hearing officer will take up the case. Employers found in violation of the ordinance will have to pay back wages, liquidated damages and administrative costs. The proposal also smartly prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who have lodged complaints, and it requires violators to pay administrative costs for the case.

Anti-wage theft measures have cropped up around the country as advocates of low-wage workers seek to gain broader protections and higher wages for the group. In Florida, wage theft most impacts hourly workers in the tourism, retail and construction industries, according to a recent study by Florida International University. More than $28 million in unpaid wages have been recovered in Florida by federal and local governments and community groups. This is a good start, but it is hardly enough. More protections are needed to coax workers into the open to report wage theft and to pursue payment for time worked.

St. Petersburg's proposal is modeled after a 2010 ordinance in Miami-Dade County, which has recovered more than $400,000 for 313 wage theft victims. According to the FIU study, which analyzed wage disputes in six Florida counties, Hillsborough ranked second after Miami-Dade County for the highest number of wage theft cases. Pinellas ranked fourth.

The Florida Legislature is considering bills that would extend more payment protections to workers. But their passage is uncertain, and the issue has gained little traction among state lawmakers in previous sessions. The absence of leadership from Tallahassee makes action by local governments even more important.

St. Petersburg City Council members should take a stand for low-wage workers and back Rice's proposal. Short of a statewide initiative, local ordinances are the best way to make redress options accessible to the public. Other local governments, including Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, also are exploring wage theft protections, and they should follow St. Petersburg's lead.