April 14, 2011. The Palm Beach Post.
How many employers stiff their workers? It’s hard to say. But it happens, and local governments that see a problem should have the ability to respond.
Palm Beach County is in a debate about doing just that. As The Post reported this week, advocates are clamoring for the county commission to create a system to investigate wage-theft complaints. Miami-Dade County did so, and in 2010 it processed more than 400 complaints and recovered $40,000 in lost wages.
Business groups are nervous, and they want state legislators to stop it cold. Bills advancing in the Senate and House would bar local governments from investigating wage theft or enforcing any wage-theft protections. This premature protection would intrude on local governments’ prerogative to combat local problems. While the practical merits of new wage-theft protections are debatable, legislators should not usurp a county’s ability at least to have a debate.
State and federal law already protect against wage theft, which includes stiffing employees or paying out less than is owed. But advocates for a wage-theft ordinance say there is little enforcement, and that victims, often low-wage workers, have little recourse for demanding missing pay. Business leaders counter that local ordinances would create a patchwork of conflicting rules, complicating intrastate business and subjecting companies to more baseless complaints.
Palm Beach County commissioners have discussed the issue and ought to continue. But if the Legislature approves these bills, commissioners cannot even have that conversation. Local governments deserve broad discretion to combat issues that vary by region. When a Legislature that claims to support decentralized government and low regulation tries to deny them this, it’s hard not to see hypocrisy.
