Just weeks after voting to create a wage-theft ordinance, Osceola County Officials now have a way to put it in action.
According to their ordinance:
“Any employer who fails to pay any portion of wages due to an employee, according to the wage rate applicable to that employee, within a reasonable time from the date on which that employee performed the work for which those wages were compensation, shall be liable for wage theft. As with state and federal wage and hour laws, individuals may be liable under the ordinance if they were capable of exercising supervisory authority over the complaining employee and were responsible to some degree for the alleged violation.”
Now any employee who believes they have been victimized can go to the Osceola County website and access the documents they need to fill out and file with the County Attorney’s Office.
County officials said the ordinance is very unique because if the employer is found guilty then they could owe the employee three times the amount initially lost. If the employer still refuses to pay, they could have their business license temporarily suspended.