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Florida Supreme Court Rejects Miami Beach Minimum Wage Appeal


This is turning into the month of minimum wage updates, right?  On February 5th, in a 5 - 2 decision, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed an appeal over a Miami Beach minimum wage ordinance that would have raised the hourly minimum wage rate in the city up to $13.31/hour by 2021.  That ordinance, approved in 2016, would have set the hourly minimum wage rate in the city above that of the statewide rate (the statewide hourly minimum wage rate was previously set at $8.10/hour in 2016 and currently sits at $8.46/hour today).  

However, business groups and some Republicans in the state cried foul over the ordinance, pointing to a 2003 state preemption law that bars local municipalities from setting their own minimum wage rates.  Miami Beach attempted to argue that the wage hike was needed as hourly workers could not afford to make ends meet.  Subsequently, litigation commenced and Miami-Dade County Judge Peter Lopez issuing a ruling that Miami Beach’s minimum wage ordinance did indeed conflict with state preemption laws and therefore was invalid.  After the Third District Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that state preemption laws blocked the ordinance from taking effect, minimum wage advocates turned their attention to the Florida Supreme Court in a last ditch effort to salvage the attempted wage hike.

It turns out, this legal maneuver appeared to give the ordinance a fighting chance as last August, the Florida Supreme Court voted 4 - 3 in favor of hearing the appeal.  In fact, the matter was to be considered by the Supreme Court next month.  However, the 5 - 2 decision from earlier this month reversed the Supreme Court’s prior 4 - 3 ruling and foreclosed further consideration of the ordinance.  

Readers might be scratching their heads trying to figure out what happened here.  Let us take a step back and look at the big picture.  In Florida, there is a mandatory retirement age for judges.  That resulted in Judges Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince (whom all had a more liberal tilt on the Supreme Court) being forced to retire last month.  And who got to fill these three vacancies on the Supreme Court?  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who just so happens to be the Republican candidate for Governor elected last November.  As a result, Governor DeSantis appointed Barbara Lagoa, Robert Luck, and Carlos Muniz to the bench, which gave the revamped Florida Supreme Court a conservative majority...and enough votes to issue the 5 - 2 decision which leaves in place the Third District’s decision blocking the minimum wage ordinance.

Interesting enough, former Miami Beach Democratic Mayor Philip Levine (who spearheaded the minimum wage ordinance movement while mayor of Miami Beach in 2016) sought the Democratic party nomination for Florida Governor in 2018.  However, he fell short in the Democratic primaries, coming in third place and losing to eventual Florida Democratic Governor nominee Andrew Gillum who went on to lose to Republican Ron DeSantis.

What is next for minimum wage advocates in Miami Beach?  For the time being, the 2016 minimum wage ordinance fight is over.  With a conservative majority on the state’s Supreme Court, efforts might be better spent trying to reverse/undue the preemption laws or risk running into that seemingly insurmountable hurdle again if another city tries to raise their hourly minimum wage rates above the state rate.  Another option could be to increase the statewide minimum wage rate.  As we have seen, there appears to be at least one serious financial backer that is working to put that measure before voters in the next year or two.


For additional information:  http://www.wlrn.org/post/miami-beachs-minimum-wage-hike-shot-down-florida-supreme-court

For a copy of the Florida Supreme Court’s (brief) 5 - 2 decision:  https://efactssc-public.flcourts.org/casedocuments/2017/2284/2017-2284_disposition_145305_d25.pdf

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