Florida minimum wage hike beginning Monday involves complications, contradictions

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It took years of debate, a constitutional amendment, legal wrangling and an approval by the state’s voters but Florida’s new minimum wage policy will finally go into effect on Monday, officially rising to $13 an hour, a mark many say is long overdue.

A 2022 referendum seeking the constitutional amendment got just enough approval by 6.39 million votes in favor as opposed to 4.11 million voters casting ballots against the measure. But the amendment cleared the needed supermajority criteria of 60% with 60.82% approving as opposed to 39.18% against.

While the constitutional amendment jacks up minimum wages from $12 an hour to $13 an hour as of Monday, it will keep rising annually until 2026.

“Each September 30th thereafter, minimum wage shall increase by $1.00 per hour until the minimum wage reaches $15.00 per hour on September 30th, 2026. From that point forward, future minimum wage increases shall revert to being adjusted annually for inflation starting September 30th, 2027,” the amendment reads.

Even employees who earn tips at service industry businesses will have a minimum wage jump to $9.98 per hour under the measure.

The entire movement for increased minimum wages has been contentious. Prominent attorney John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan famed law firm headquartered in Orlando, led much of the effort to see to the approval of the constitutional amendment.

Since its approval, it’s had a mercurial impact on Florida politicians. Gov. Ron DeSantis has warmed to Florida’s measure on the minimum wage escalator. Initially, he was against the “Fight for $15” effort. But as a presidential candidate when he was still in the running in the Primary season in January, he told potential voters in Iowa that Florida was leading the way on how to handle the minimum wage issue instead of a federal mandate for increased federal pay minimums.

“I think what’s happened is our (Florida) economy so outperformed the rest of the country that we have rising wages in Florida. And it’s real wages. It’s not just because of inflation,” DeSantis said.

He credited having “E-Verify in place” and “a legal workforce” as the things really driving Florida’s wage growth.

“That helps because you can’t have illegal aliens undercutting American workers, particularly for blue-collar jobs,” he said.

But an odd loophole was approved by the Florida Legislature when state lawmakers approved an exemption for owners of Minor League Baseball teams in Florida to skirt the minimum wage mark in order to pay players on their rosters.

DeSantis also got into the fray over the minimum wage and signed the exemption for MiLB owners in June, which was controlled by the government. A twist from what he said in Iowa on the campaign trail.

“So we’ve shown, I think, the way to have higher wages is through sound policy, not necessarily dictating it from the government. Even though we do have that in our Constitution, most of the wages in Florida, even at entry level, are far in excess of that,” said DeSantis less than a year after he signed a measure permitting government control of pay for baseball players on minor league squads.