A recent report put the spotlight on the various employment issues restaurant workers encounter in Florida. These problems include illegal working conditions, discrimination and pay below national minimum wage levels.
While Florida restaurant workers who experience this poor treatment may feel helpless and intimidated by their employers, there is help for those who choose to speak up. If employers threaten to fire, or do fire, a restaurant employee for reporting health and safety violations, these employees are generally protected by Florida's whistleblower law. There are some requirements that the business must meet. The employer must have at least 10 employees.
Report Findings
The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) of Miami, a Florida chapter of a national restaurant workers' group, recently published a report. It was based on a survey of restaurant employees in the Miami-Dade area.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were almost 4,000 restaurants and bars in the county, employing about 66,000 people, in 2009. While the Miami-Dade area is unique because employment losses have not been as steep throughout the recession, many of the findings would be similar in other urban areas in Florida.
The statistics were disappointing, but not altogether surprising:
- 40 percent were paid lower than minimum wages
- 90 percent lacked healthcare coverage
- 65 percent worked even when sick
- 45 percent worked overtime without overtime pay
- 27 percent worked for free
The survey also revealed discriminatory practices. White workers in restaurants held positions with better duties and pay, such as bartenders, servers and cooks, while minority workers mainly worked as dishwashers and prep cooks.
ROC hopes the results of their survey will compel legislative change. Positive employment law changes include requiring employers to provide paid sick time, paying better wages for tipped workers, and providing incentives for employers to offer health care benefits to restaurant employees. In the meantime, restaurant workers who report employer infractions do have government protection under Florida's whistleblower law.
Whistleblower Protection
In general, if an employee reports any employment law violations, the employee becomes a whistleblower. Therefore, he or she is protected under Florida's whistleblower law, which acts much like any discrimination statute.
Reporting activities may include employees who complained to their employers in writing or verbally, as well as testified against them during a legal investigation. Under this law, employees may bring a whistleblower claim if they were terminated or otherwise treated unfairly by their employers after they reported illegal or discriminatory employment activities. Employees must file the claim within two years after recognizing the retaliatory treatment.
Legal Remedies
While the satisfaction of bringing a corrupt employer to justice may be enough for whistleblowers, there are other legal remedies they may receive. Protected whistleblowers may be reinstated into their previous positions, and the court may award them with lost wages and other benefits, as well as court costs and attorney fees.
If you are currently employed in Florida and you recognize that your employer is acting illegally, contact a Florida employment law or class action attorney at Feldman, Fox & Morgado today to review your employment law rights and remedies before proceeding with any reporting activities.
