Wage Theft

Update: Jul. 12, 2010 -

The Miami-Herald notes that although a wage theft ordinance was passed in February, many workers are unaware of the new law and continue to be unpaid or underpaid. /via Miami Herald

Issue Overview

The Problem: Wage theft, the unlawful underpayment or non-payment of workers’ wages, is prevalent in Palm Beach County. There is no recourse for these workers to turn to as it falls outside of law enforcement jurisdiction, and filing a small claims suit is more than one can afford, $300.

Findings:

In cities like Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, and regions like North Alabama and South Georgia, over 40% of immigrant workers have experienced wage theft. 20.4% of our county is made up of immigrants – this would translate to over 100,000 people in Palm Beach County who have likely experienced wage theft.
Wage theft occurs to not only immigrants but also to employees within the restaurant, hotel, and service industry. In fact, the largest ...

...dollar amount is stolen from this labor pool. In Palm Beach County, we have 126,248 employees that work in this field.

The Department of Labor, whose closest branch is located in Miami, has 4 investigators for the entire South Florida region. That means that there are 4 people to cover a population of more than 5 million, and more than 6 thousand square miles.

The Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity receives at least 1 case a week that they must refer out to the Department of Labor on wage theft because it falls outside of their jurisdiction. This does not encompass those who are too afraid to come forward due to fear of retaliation.

According to the Department of Labor, 7 out of 10 employers are found out of compliance with wage and hour laws. (Department of Labor)

The workers of Palm Beach County deserve to get paid for the time they have worked. Miami-Dade County recently passed a Wage Theft Ordinance, and local nonprofit PEACE (People Engaged in Active Community Efforts) is working for a similar ordinance here.