Late last year, advocates for low-wage workers in Florida's Palm Beach County made what they thought was a modest request of their county commissioners: pass a wage-theft ordinance that would make it easier for working people to reclaim unpaid wages from employers who stiff them.  But that seemingly simple request is now in limbo, as Florida's business interests have begun campaigning strongly against such ordinances. Some local clergy in Palm Beach are wondering what's so controversial about making sure working people are paid what's owed them.  "I had a much higher opinion of our business community," said Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church Deacon Peter Mazzella, who's part of a coalition of religious leaders advocating for the law. "Being paid for one's efforts -- the salary that’s agreed upon for one's work -- is something very foundational to our whole economic system."

In recent years, religious leaders and worker advocates have managed to raise national awareness about wage theft, which occurs when employers fail to pay the minimum wage or overtime, force employees to work off the clock or decline to pay workers altogether. A number of state and local governments have since moved to toughen their laws. New York State passed this past winter its Wage Theft Prevention Act, which increased penalties against unscrupulous employers and boosted the amount of back wages a worker can recoup. And Texas enacted a law this spring that makes wage theft a criminal act, empowering local authorities to arrest business owners who don't pay their employees. Such laws have had their detractors, but nowhere has the opposition seemed to be so strong as in Florida.  Last year the County of Miami-Dade passed one of the most progressive wage-theft laws in the country, establishing a municipal hearing process for allegations of unpaid wages. Workers owed at least $60 from their employer now have a right to make their case to an examiner through the county's small-business development office.  (click on link to read full story)