Miami Dade Wage Theft Ordinance

Miami-Dade commissioners tackle wage theft

Kudos to Miami-Dade County for acting on behalf of low-wage workers by requiring companies to do the right thing and pay within two weeks of workers doing a job.

The issue of wage theft has many dimensions, including employers who pay less than minimum wage such as restaurants and clubs, do not pay earned overtime wages, renege on contractual promises to workers and cheat workers out of their full hours worked.

Last spring the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University and the Women's Fund of Miami-Dade presented the findings of the Portrait of Women's Economic Security in Greater Miami. The report identified the impact of wage theft on women's economic security.

Women in the cleaning and caring professions, such as domestic workers and nannies, and those in the agriculture industry are particularly vulnerable to wage theft.


More than half of families headed by a single female with at least one child under 18 at home earn less than $25,000 a year.

Only 26 percent of working women in Miami-Dade County have a retirement or pension plan compared to the national average of 41 percent. Economic security for women means security for their families, thus improving the community.

There is more work to be done, but the Miami-Dade County Commission's regulation is a big step forward.
As one of the only counties in the country with a wage-theft ordinance, our community is leading the nation on this issue. We congratulate commissioners for defending the rights of women and men to receive fair pay for a day's work by enacting the Miami Dade Wage Theft Ordinance.