Title: Minimum Wage

Summary: Revising the formula for the adjusted state minimum wage; reducing over time the amount of tip credit an employer may claim; prohibiting an employer from claiming a tip credit beginning on a specified date, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to the minimum wage; amending s. 448.110, F.S.; revising the formula for the adjusted state minimum wage; reducing over time the amount of tip credit an employer may claim; prohibiting an employer from claiming a tip credit beginning on a specified date; conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Present subsections (5) through (11) of section 448.110, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (6) through (12), respectively, a new subsection (5) is added to that section, and subsection (4) and paragraph (a) of present subsection (6) of that section are amended, to read: 448.110 State minimum wage; annual wage adjustment; enforcement.  (4)(a) Beginning September 30, 2019, and each September thereafter through 2027, 2005,and annually on September thereafter, the Department of Economic Opportunity shall calculate an adjusted state minimum wage rate by increasing the state minimum wage by the rate of inflation for the months preceding prior to September of that year plus cents. Beginning September 30, 2028, and each September thereafter, the Department of Economic Opportunity shall increase the state minimum wage by the rate of inflation for the months preceding September of that year.(b)  In calculating the adjusted state minimum wage, the Department of Economic Opportunity shall use the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for the South Region or a successor index as calculated by the United States Department of Labor. (c)  Each adjusted state minimum wage rate shall take effect on the following January 1, with the initial adjusted state minimum wage rate to take effect on January 1, 2020 2006.(d) (b)  The Department of Revenue and the Department of Economic Opportunity shall annually publish the amount of the adjusted state minimum wage and the effective date. Publication shall occur by posting the adjusted state minimum wage rate and the effective date on the Internet home pages of the Department of Economic Opportunity and the Department of Revenue by October of each year. In addition, to the extent funded in the General Appropriations Act, the Department of Economic Opportunity shall provide written notice of the adjusted rate and the effective date of the adjusted state minimum wage to all employers registered in the most current reemployment assistance database. Such notice shall be mailed by November of each year using the addresses included in the database. Employers are responsible for maintaining current address information in the reemployment assistance database. The Department of Economic Opportunity is not responsible for failure to provide notice due to incorrect or incomplete address information in the database. The Department of Economic Opportunity shall provide the Department of Revenue with the adjusted state minimum wage rate information and effective date in a timely manner. (5)(a)   Beginning January 1, 2020, and each January thereafter through 2027, the maximum amount of tip credit an employer may claim shall be reduced by cents. (b) Beginning January 1, 2028, an employer may not claim a tip credit. (7) (6) (a) Any person aggrieved by a violation of this section may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against an employer violating this section or a party violating subsection (6) (5).However, before prior to bringing any claim for unpaid minimum wages pursuant to this section, the person aggrieved shall notify the employer alleged to have violated this section, in writing, of an intent to initiate such an action. The notice must identify the minimum wage to which the person aggrieved claims entitlement, the actual or estimated work dates and hours for which payment is sought, and the total amount of alleged unpaid wages through the date of the notice. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.