Will lawmakers take aim at $15 an hour?
The language of 2020’s Amendment 2 was clear and unequivocal. Florida’s minimum wage rate would increase every September, starting in 2021 when the statewide minimum went to $10 an hour. And it would go up every year after that, $1 at a time, until it hit $15 in 2026. After that, it would be adjusted annually with inflation. Employers whose workers regularly got substantial tips could claim a credit.
The language of 2020’s Amendment 2 was clear and unequivocal. Florida’s minimum wage rate would increase every September, starting in 2021 when the statewide minimum went to $10 an hour. And it would go up every year after that, $1 at a time, until it hit $15 in 2026. After that, it would be adjusted annually with inflation. Employers whose workers regularly got substantial tips could claim a credit.
And that was it. Cut and dried. No “ifs,” a few “ands.” Certainly, no “buts.” The framers of the amendment left zero wiggle room for shenanigans.
This, of course, is Florida. Though Amendment 2 passed with a comfortable 86,000vote margin, the ink was barely dry on the vote tally before the battle cry of “shenanigans!” rang out across the land. Lawmakers will be asked, in the coming January session, to pester voters with a tricky amendment that could hobble the 2020 vote and insult the voters who just told them, 18 months ago, that they wanted this shift.
Lawmakers should understand that the only way to win this game is not to play.
They certainly balked at the first attempt, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. His 2021 bill would have asked voters to strip people with felony convictions, people under the age of 21 and — here’s the big loophole — “other hard-to-hire people” of any protection under Florida’s minimum wage law. That would effectively bounce them down to the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25, costing them not only the $10-and-climbing rate but Florida’s previous minimum wage of $8.65. That would have been a pretty brutal thing to do to three groups of people who are already more likely to be struggling economically.
Lawmakers took a pass. The bill eventually drew a House companion sponsored by Rep. Tommy Gregory, R-Sarasota, but didn’t get a single hearing in either chamber of the Legislature.
But Brandes’ persistence is legendary — frequently an admirable trait, since he champions good ideas about as frequently as he puts forward stinkers. He’s back for the 2022 session with a new twist that falls squarely in the latter category, one with the potential to significantly destabilize the state’s job market by incentivizing companies to jettison experienced workers in favor of newcomers.
The new legislation, which doesn’t have a House sponsor, would ask voters to create a “training wage” loophole, authorizing wages that would fall below the minimum pay for newly hired employees. How far below? Voters would have no way of knowing. The rate would be set by a federal training wage, or upon the recommendation of a currently nonexistent commission that would study the matter and report back to lawmakers.
This so-called training wage would apply to any new hire, whether or not they actually needed training, for up to six months. In times when jobs are scarce, setting the bar low enough would encourage employers to create a revolving door for low-skill, low-paid employees, who often need just a day or two of training to operate a cash register, carry bags to hotel rooms or wash dishes in a restaurant kitchen. Six months later, their time would run out — and another crop of inexpensive newbies summoned forward.
Once again, Brandes is looking to strip a particularly vulnerable class of Florida workers of protections they need.
Moreover, he’s asking his fellow lawmakers to make this mean-spirited move at a time when Florida’s job market is in turmoil. Many employers seeking to fill low-skill, customarily low-wage jobs are finding that they need to pay up to $15 an hour to attract the workers they need to keep their businesses open. Should the training-wage proposal make the ballot, many voters are likely to perceive it as pointless as well as cruel.
Members of Florida’s business community fought hard against the $15-an-hour eventual wage, only to find themselves making the leap years before they reach Amendment 2’s finish line. An emotional but vague campaign might push this loophole over the 60% threshold, but they’d be pitting themselves against the workers they desperately need, and will have to pay higher wages for anyway.
Editorials are the opinion of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board and are written by one of our members or a designee. The editorial board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Send emails to insight@orlandosentinel.com.