| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to wage protection; creating s. 448.111, |
| 3 | F.S.; providing a short title; providing legislative |
| 4 | findings and intent; preempting regulation of wage theft |
| 5 | to the state, except as otherwise provided by federal law, |
| 6 | and superseding any municipal or county ordinance or other |
| 7 | local regulation on the subject; providing an effective |
| 8 | date. |
| 9 |
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| 10 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Section 1. Section 448.111, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 13 | to read: |
| 14 | 448.111 Florida Wage Protection Law.- |
| 15 | (1) This section may be cited as the "Florida Wage |
| 16 | Protection Law." |
| 17 | (2) The Legislature finds as a matter of public policy |
| 18 | that it is necessary to declare the theft of wages and the |
| 19 | denial of fair compensation for work completed to be against the |
| 20 | laws and policies of the state. |
| 21 | (3) The Legislature finds that employers and employees |
| 22 | benefit from consistent and established standards of wage theft |
| 23 | regulation and that existing federal and state laws, including |
| 24 | the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Davis-Bacon |
| 25 | Act, the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act of 1965, the |
| 26 | Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the |
| 27 | Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, the Copeland |
| 28 | "Anti-kickback" Act, this chapter, and s. 24, Art. X of the |
| 29 | State Constitution seek to protect employees from predatory and |
| 30 | unfair wage practices while also providing appropriate due |
| 31 | process to employers. |
| 32 | (4) It is the intent of this section to provide uniform |
| 33 | wage theft laws in the state, to void all ordinances and |
| 34 | regulations relating to wage theft that have been enacted by a |
| 35 | governmental entity other than the state or the Federal |
| 36 | Government, to prohibit the enactment of any future ordinance or |
| 37 | other local regulation relating to wage theft, and to require |
| 38 | local governmental entities to enforce state and federal wage |
| 39 | theft laws. |
| 40 | (5) Except as otherwise provided by federal law, this |
| 41 | section expressly preempts regulation of wage theft to the state |
| 42 | and supersedes any municipal or county ordinance or other local |
| 43 | regulation on the subject. |
| 44 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |