RESEARCH IN ACTION

Wage Theft in Florida: Real Problems with Real Solutions exposes the extent of wage theft violations in Florida.

The study led by the Florida Immigrant Coalition, documented 3,700 wage violations in both low-wage industries and in professional and higher paying occupations.

Employers breaking the law

The 2009 Broken Laws Report led by the National Employment Law Project states that over 1 million workers in low-wage industries in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City lose more than $56.4 million per week as a result of employment and labor law violations.

Wage theft happens when workers are paid below the minimum wage, not paid for overtime, forced to work off the clock, have their time cards altered, are misclassified as independent contractors, or are simply not paid a wage for work performed. Low-wage and immigrant workers are more vulnerable to wage theft violations because they risk employer retaliation.

Community-based organizations in Miami-Dade County noticed a rise in wage violations among their members. The problem was so widespread that the organizations formed the Florida Wage Theft Task Force, a coalition coordinated by the Florida Immigrant Coalition. One of the first projects of the Task Force was to create a statewide database of wage violations to document the extent and form of wage theft occurring throughout Florida.

The Sociological Initiatives Foundation supported the project in the hope of building a tool and strategy that could be used in other communities.

Documenting violations

The Task Force worked with the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) at Florida International University in Miami, and invited other groups around the state that serve workers victimized by wage theft to participate in the data gathering project.

The report documented nearly 3,700 wage theft violations from August 2006 through August 2010 in the two counties, with over 1,600 violations from 2008 through 2010 in the hotel, food services, construction, health care and social assistance industries.

Wage theft hurts the whole community

The report reveals that communities are hurt in multiple ways by wage theft. Honest businesses are undermined by unscrupulous competitors, governments lose out on taxes, and working families suffer when wages are too low to meet basic needs.

The report calls for local wage theft ordinances, better enforcement by the Florida Attorney General, wage and workplace protections, the right to organize and more extensive labor protection of all workers.

A new database for organizing

Over 60 organizations attended a statewide workshop hosted by the Florida Immigrant Coalition to learn about organizing strategies to address wage theft and how to use the database to document the problem.

“The database is a great tool to show the extent of the problem. It also is a great tool to connect with other organizations fighting this battle,” says, lead researcher and Florida Wage Theft Task Force member, Cynthia Hernandez.

FLIC organizers are optimistic that they will be able to work with their business, faith-based, labor and other community allies to organize a powerful statewide network of organizations that use the new tool and promote county-wide wage theft ordinances and enforcement throughout the state.

Wage Theft in Florida: Real Problems with Real Solutions

Author: Cynthia S. Hernandez, Research Associate, RISEP

Contact: Cynthia S. Hernandez – cynthia.hernandez1@fiu.edu

Featuring the Florida Immigrant Coalition and RISEP, grantees of the Sociological Initiatives Foundation.