The right to a minimum wage is protected in Florida by the Florida Constitution, the Florida Minimum Wage Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. It has been stated that a minimum wage is essential to a minimum standard of living necessary for the health, efficiency, and the general well-being of workers. The ability to exist and survive within our society has become directly tied to the wages received by many Americans.
As such, the law provides that employees should be paid not less than the minimum wage for all hours worked. This is true regardless of whether an employee is paid a salary, commissions, hourly or by some other method. The method an employee is being paid alone does not exclude the employee from the protections of minimum wage laws.
Minimum wage laws can be violated in numerous ways to include:
- Employers misclassifying employees as independent contractors rather than an employee and therefore fail to comply with minimum wage laws;
- Employers misclassifying employees as “exempt” and thus not tracking hours actually worked and therefore failing to comply with minimum wage laws;
- The employer fails to count all hours worked so to ensure that minimum wage laws are fulfilled
- Tipped employees are forced to share their tips with employees that do not regularly and customarily receive tips;
- Employers keep some or all of an employee’s tip;s
- Interns and volunteers believe they are not entitled to minimum wage.
The above list is merely a small sample of reasons why employees are not receiving minimum wage. There are many other reasons. If you have not be paid minimum wage for all hours worked, please contact the employment lawyers at LaBar & Adams, P.A. in Orlando at 407-835-8968 or fill-out the online form located on our website.
