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Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

THE LATEST Man gets $2M for 22 years he lost Mystery: Who left money faucet on? Many hurricane relief measures get blown away Dramatic proposal, cautious response Legislature doesn't act on minimum wage deal For open-government cause: 'a mixed bag'

Minimum wage plan embraced in Capitol

If state lawmakers approve the deal as expected, Florida's minimum wage could jump $1 to $6.15 in May.

By JONI JAMES
Published April 20, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Five months after labor advocates trumped the business community and persuaded Florida voters to raise the state's minimum wage, an agreement has been reached on how to implement the plan. The deal, expected to be approved by the Legislature shortly, all but assures that the state's minimum wage will jump $1 to $6.15 on May 2.

The proposal, unanimously approved in its first Senate committee Tuesday, includes little of the business-orientated proposals lobbyists sought this year in the House when they argued the constitutional amendment was so vague it would require significant a new law to implement. They also had pushed to make it harder for hourly workers who were denied the new state minimum wage from pursuing class-action lawsuits.

But such proposals largely fell out of favor last week after a pair of senators - one a Republican citrus grower, the other a Democratic labor organizer - invited business and representatives of ACORN, the worker group that had pushed the minimum wage, to a meeting to hash out a compromise.

The resulting agreement has been embraced in the House, where the measure is ready for a floor vote.

Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said Tuesday he and Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, steered the conversation toward finding common ground. "We make pretty good partners on this kind of thing," he said of Hill. "We wanted to get this done."

ACORN lobbyist Karen Woodall said her group is satisfied that workers won't face undue burden in asserting their right to the state minimum wage. "Our position all along has been this issue was self-implementing. But as long as there is going to be a bill, we can accept this," she said.

Under the plan, workers who are denied the state's minimum wage must complain in writing to a supervisor, outlining about how much money they feel they are owed.

If the employer doesn't respond within 15 days with the unpaid wages, the worker has the right to sue or complain to the Florida Attorney General's Office.

The bill will give the attorney general authority to take civil action against employers who violate the law, including imposing a $1,000 fine for each violation.

Most important to the business community, the bill will require the state Agency for Workforce Innovation to notify employers annually of the state's minimum wage. That number is expected to change yearly, as the constitutional amendment required that after the setting the wage at $6.15 six months after the vote, the wage would be adjusted annually to reflect cost-of-living increases.

"Our biggest concern is that businesses won't get enough notification, that they won't know that this is happening," said Steve Birtman of the National Federation of Independent Business. "We wanted to make sure the employee had to talk to the employer first."

Under the bill, the state will use the U.S. Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for the South Region to compute the annual increase in the wage, effective Jan. 1 of each year.

Under the proposed law, the first wage increase will come in less than a year on Jan. 1, 2006.

In November's election, 71 percent of voters approved the measure, despite strong opposition from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, most business groups and most Republican state officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush.

Joni James can be reached at 850 224-7263 or jjames@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 20, 2005, 02:56:36]