by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Florida's working poor received a small pay raise when the state's minimum wage increased by a dollar on Jan. 1.
The increase stems from a ballot initiative that passed in November of 2004 that bumps Florida's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour and ties future annual increases to the level of inflation. Jacksonville Area Legal Aid employment attorney Tess Arrington said the change will be felt in the pocketbooks of many of her clients.
"I work with the working poor so I see the effect it has to work all week and still not climb above the poverty line," she said.
An estimated 300,000 workers in Florida earned the previous minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. After taxes, that gave them an annual salary of around $11,000. The poverty line is $12,500. The new amendment should push most minimum wage earners above that line, but just barely.
"I guess an extra dollar doesn't seem like much if you're making $20 an hour, but most of these people don't make $20 an hour," said Arrington. "For those making the minimum wage this is a healthy percentage jump. They should feel a real boost I would think."
Arrington is also on the lookout for an increase in her workload. She's told JALA's intake staff to be on the lookout for a bump in wage claims. The law allows minimum wage earners who don't receive the raise to claim unpaid wages and attorney fees. Employers who willfully dodge the law could be fined or sued for double damages in some cases.
Due to the law, Florida's minimum wage is now indexed to inflation, meaning it will climb as the cost of living climbs. That will keep the annual minimum wage salary from falling back below the poverty line, said Arrington.
But the inflation index was one of the more controversial aspects of the law when it appeared on the Florida ballot leading up to the 2004 general election. Opponents said the law could cost Florida employers billions of dollars annually if inflation rises quickly. The Florida initiative even became part of the presidential debate over the national minimum wage, which hasn't increased in eight years.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry thought his support for the Florida initiative would help him win Florida. President George Bush didn't take a position although his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, opposed it.
The wage hike didn't put Kerry in the White House, and neither will it result in the economic doomsday predicted by opponents, said Arrington.
"You see all these studies that purport to show a negative effect on the economy (from past increases), but you have to look at all the factors that influence the strength of the economy, not just wage increases," she said. "I don't think the sky-is-falling scenario will bear out."