Wage theft is a growing problem across America and in Florida, as employers seek to cut costs. A recent survey by researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago found that two-thirds of workers surveyed experienced a pay violation in a given week. And in the last several years, at least 39 lawsuits have been filed against Wal-Mart, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in back wages paid to workers, for wage theft abuses such as erasing hours from workers time-cards, forcing employees to work off the clock, failing to pay overtime, and denying employees rest and lunch breaks.
The problem is especially acute in South Florida because of jobs our tourism and service sector based economy which supports mainly low-wage and hourly jobs, and the large numbers of immigrant workers who are vulnerable to exploitation and may be unfamiliar with their labor rights. However all workers have a legal right to the wages they have earned, regardless of their immigration status. Florida no longer has a Department of Labor and the Federal Department of Labor has only limited capacity for the entire region south of Okeechobee. Some employers exploit their workers’ vulnerabilities or may be unfamiliar with U.S. and Florida fair wage and labor laws, and many immigrant workers have or believe they have no recourse, legal or otherwise.
