A group of Gainesville residents will give a presentation to the Alachua County Commission at 5 p.m. today pushing for a law to reduce wage theft crimes across the county.
Wage theft is a crime that affects employers and workers nationwide and across Florida, said Diana Moreno, spokeswoman for the Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force.
Moreno, 25, said wage theft happens when workers are not paid what they’re owed by their employers, such as not being paid for overtime work.
“After a month, it could add up to hours that you’re working for free,” she said.
A 2011 study by the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy Center for Labor Research and Studies from Florida International University found 3,036 wage violations reported to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Florida.
More than $28 million of unpaid wages have been recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor, according to the study.
Wage theft can also occur when workers do not receive their final paycheck after quitting or getting fired from a job.
This means having to go through a difficult legal process, she said.
“There are a lot of occasions where people just give up and don’t get paid at all,” Moreno said.
The presentation will discuss wage theft from a small business perspective.
Several local businesses, including Satchel’s Pizza, The Lunch Box and Big Lou’s Pizza, have endorsed the task force’s ordinance.
“They understand they would rather compete in an even playing field with their competitors,” Moreno said.
Moreno said if the ordinance passes through the county commission, it will help prevent future wage theft incidents from happening between workers and employers.
“We want to use this ordinance not only to recover wages from workers, but to identify small businesses who may be struggling to update their payroll system and offer them services through the county that can help them succeed,” she said.
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
