Miami Employment Lawyer Blog

I am happy to report that last week we won an appeal to the Florida Third District Court of Appeals in which we appealed the Unemployment Appeals Commission's denial of unemployment benefits to our client because they claimed that her conduct in violating company policy was "willful misconduct" under the unemployment law and denied her unemployment benefits. Attached is a copy of the Decision of the Third District Court of Appeals.

In the case, our client, who had worked for Carnival Cruise Lines for approximately 15 years, during which time she had no discipline or reprimands, knowingly violated a company policy that prohibited the use of the corporate credit card for personal expenses. However, while she used the corporate credit card for personal expenses, she promptly reimbursed the company for all of the charges. The Unemployment Appeals Referee held that such conduct constituted "willful misconduct" and denied unemployment benefits. The Unemployment Appeals Commission (now known as the Department of Economic Opportunity) affirmed the Decision of the Appeals Referee denying benefits. We appealed the Decision of the Unemployment Appeals Commission based on the general rule under the Florida unemployment law that isolated infractions of company policy with no prior warnings usually amount to no more than poor judgment rather than misconduct within the meaning of the unemployment law.

Under well-established law, the unemployment statute is to be liberally interpreted in favor of a claimant, and its disqualifying provisions are to be construed narrowly in determining whether the employee's actions support the denial of benefits. In fact, even a deliberate violation of company policy may not constitute "misconduct" under the statute where the employee was unaware that the conduct could lead to termination of her employment. Indeed, "misconduct" under the unemployment law usually involves repeated violations of explicit policies after several warnings.

In reversing the decision of the Unemployment Appeals Commission, the Third District Court of Appeals stated that "[A] review of the record demonstrates that the incident for which [the Claimant] was discharged from employment, after an otherwise unblemished fifteen-year career with the employer, amounted to an 'exercise of poor judgment [that] does not amount to misconduct sufficient to support the denial of unemployment compensation benefits.'"

Continue reading "Florida Court of Appeals Reverses Unemployment Appeals Commission Decision that Denied Unemployment Benefits to Employee for Isolated Violations of Company Policy" »

Last week we filed a lawsuit in Federal Court under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 on behalf of our client alleging that her former employer, the University of Miami, failed to pay her the same wages as they paid men performing the same or similar work with similar responsibility and requiring similar skill and effort. Attached is a copy of the Complaint.

The Complaint alleges that the Plaintiff worked for the Athletic Department of the University for over 15 years, was promoted in the year 2000 and again promoted to the position of Director of Football Relations in the year 2008. However, as Director of Football Relations, she was paid significantly less than other male employees in comparable positions with similar responsibility and requiring similar skill and effort. Under the Equal Pay Act, men and women in the same workplace must be given equal pay for equal work. While the jobs do not need to be identical, the law requires that if the content of the job is similar or substantially equal, then the remuneration must also be the same. This includes all remuneration, including salary, overtime pay, bonuses, vacations, benefits, etc. The law also provides that if there is unequal pay, an employer must raise the amount it pays to women rather than reduce the salary and/or benefits paid to men.

In the lawsuit, we are alleging that the Plaintiff was paid as much as $39,500 less than men doing the same or similar work with similar responsibility and requiring similar skill and effort. The positions have different titles, but under the law, titles are not determinative; what is important is job content. As stated above, if the content of the job is similar or substantially equal, and the jobs have similar responsibility and require similar skill, then the remuneration must be the same for both men and women.

Continue reading "Equal Pay Act Lawsuit Against University of Miami Alleges that Woman was not Paid the Same as Men for the Same Work" »

On January 1, 2012, Florida's minimum wage increased to $7.67 per hour for all hours worked by covered nonexempt employees. The federal minimum wage, however, has not changed; it is currently $7.25 per hour. Nevertheless, most employers in Florida will be required to pay the higher minimum wage of $7.67 per hour because the law provides that in cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages. For "tipped employees", meaning those employees who receive at least $30.00 in tips from customers per month, employers will now need to pay a direct hourly wage of $4.65, which is an increase from the previous $4.29 per hour.

Under federal law, hourly employees who work over 40 hours per work week are required to be paid one and one-half times the minimum wage of $7.67 per hour, or $15.34 per hour. Under Florida law, Section 448.01, an employee who works over 10 hours per day is entitled to an overtime premium regardless of whether or not he or she works over 40 hours in that work week.

Continue reading "Florida Minimum Wage Increases Again in 2012" »