On the heels of similar concepts passing in St. Pete and Hillsborough County, the Pinellas County Commission unanimously passed a wage theft ordinance, reports the Tampa Bay Times' Tracey McManus.
The new law aims to crack down on instances of employers unlawfully withholding pay from workers, which, as we reported on over the summer, is all too common throughout Tampa Bay.
The service, McManus writes, would be available at no cost who have claims of wage theft. This could include a worker who completed overtime hours but was not paid the right rate, a hospitality worker required to work between shifts or during a break or someone who simply was not issued a paycheck despite putting in a full day's work.
The ordinance applies countywide, but some cities can opt out.
"I think today is a watershed day for rights of low-income people and workers in general here in Pinellas County," Gulfcoast Legal Services Executive Director John Dubrule told the Times. "We see people who are living week to week and they are coming in telling us they've been fired and they can't get their wages for the past two weeks and they don't know what to do."
Read more here.
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2015.