At least two dozen construction workers who lost their jobs this month filed complaints Wednesday seeking back pay for more than two weeks' work on an apartment complex through Miami-Dade County's anti-wage theft ordinance.
The year-old ordinance is one of only handful around the country and has collected more than $350,000 for workers since it was enacted, according to those involved in the program. But lawmakers in Tallahassee are now proposing to outlaw such ordinances, saying such measures infringe on the rights of the state government.
Activists fear such a move will turn back the clock for those like the Miami Lakes workers seeking to recover back wages.
Raul Raudales is among the group of workers owed money. The Honduran engineer was working as a topographer on the project of the Pompano Beach-based Current Builders construction company, one of South Florida's largest construction contracting companies.
Raudales, who was hired by a sub-contractor, said he wouldn't have known what to do when he was let go had it not been for a friend who was able to contact the anti-wage theft program. He says he's owed $1,395 for nearly 100 hours of work.
"After they got involved, the contractor promised to pay," he said. "They said they'd pay 'tomorrow.' We still haven't seen that tomorrow, but the fact that they got involved made a difference," he said.
Raudales and the other workers lost their jobs earlier this month after Current Builders let go its Hialeah subcontractor J & B Construction Services, because the company wasn't completing the work on time. Current Builders CFO Rick Colandreo said his company was also dismayed to learn J
& B wasn't paying its workers.
After meeting with Jeanette Smith of the Florida Wage theft Task Force, Colandreo said his company agreed to pay the workers minimum wage for the hours J & B owed them. He said his company declined to pay more because it could not get an accurate list of everyone who had actually worked on the project.
A message left Wednesday by The Associated Press for J & B was not immediately returned.
"I'd like to think we're the guys with the white hats in this situation," Colandreo said.
But Raudales said minimum wage would mean getting about half the money he was promised, not something he is willing to do weeks before Christmas. And he doesn't buy the argument that an accurate count of the workers can't be determined.
"As a serious company, Current Builders should know who did the work," he said. "And they or the subcontractor should pay us the money we are owed. You can delegate everything but responsibility."
Under the wage ordinance, a mediator tries to help workers and employers reach an agreement. If that doesn't work, an administrative officer reviews the case. If a company is found to owe money, it could have to pay as much as three times the original amount.
The ordinance is geared toward helping workers collect wages from small businesses not regulated by the U.S. Department of Labor.
But a top Republican leader, Florida Sen. David Simmons, wants to do away with the program. At the behest of the Florida Retail Federation, he is sponsoring a bill that would make local wage theft ordinances illegal. A similar bill was introduced in the House by fellow Republican Rep. Tom Goodson.
"There exists several state and federal laws that deal with wage theft, and it seems that an employer, and particularly an employer that has more than one location, should have consistency," he said. Simmons insisted plenty of lawyers would take even small wage theft cases.
That's not so, said Smith. The amount workers recover is often too little to interest lawyers, she said.
"Look, if Florida actually had a Department of Labor to enforce labor laws, then Miami-Dad wouldn't have had to take action," she said. "We are just trying to help workers get the money they are owed."
