Wage theft and workplace mistreatment in Florida — how to document it

Published July 20, 2026 · reviewed September 28, 2026

The short answer

In Florida you must write to your employer before you can sue for unpaid minimum wages. The notice has to state the wage you claim and the work dates and hours it covers, and the employer then gets 15 calendar days to pay or settle it.

When your pay or your treatment at work feels wrong, the most useful thing you can do is start recording it as it happens. Wage theft and mistreatment take many forms. Hourly and salaried employees may not be paid for all their time. Gig workers and contractors may find promised earnings short or missing. Commission-based workers may see pay miscalculated. It can also mean breaks you never got, work done before or after your recorded hours, or being punished after you raised a concern.

In Florida, workers have the right to be paid at least the applicable minimum wage and to be paid for the hours they work, with overtime generally governed by federal law. There are also protections against certain kinds of retaliation. Florida's minimum wage rises on a published schedule, and the current figure changes — so this page keeps the numbers in one clearly-marked box below and points you to the official sources rather than stating them as fact here.

rippedoffworker is not a law firm and can't tell you how your situation will end. What it does is help you record the hours, the pay, and the treatment, so a pattern becomes visible over time. A dated, organized record is something you can take to a government agency, a legal aid service, or a lawyer — the people who can act on it.

State specifics — verify at the source

These figures and rules change. Confirm the current details at the official links before relying on them.

Minimum wage
According to FloridaCommerce (the state agency, formerly the Department of Economic Opportunity), Florida's minimum wage is set by the state constitution (Art. X, §24), which raises it each September 30 until it reaches $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026. The state's own 2025–2026 minimum wage notice to employees says: “Effective September 30, 2025, the Florida minimum wage will be $14.00 per hour, with a minimum wage of at least $10.98 per hour for tipped employees, in addition to tips, through September 29, 2026.” So $14.00 (tipped $10.98) covers work through September 29, 2026, and $15.00 applies from September 30, 2026. FloridaCommerce calculates the tipped direct wage as the minimum wage minus “the allowable FLSA tip credit of 2003” of $3.02, which is $11.98 against $15.00. From 2027 the rate is recalculated for inflation each September 30, and Art. X, §24 and Fla. Stat. §448.110(4)(a) both say each adjusted rate “shall take effect on the following January 1.” Verify the current figure at FloridaCommerce.
Checked September 28, 2026.
Overtime
The U.S. Department of Labor's page “State Minimum Wage Laws”, updated July 1, 2026, gives no “Premium Pay After Designated Hours” entry for Florida; the page's footnote on that column reads: “The overtime premium rate is one and one-half times the employee's regular rate, unless otherwise specified.” We read it on September 18, 2026. For federal law, the Department's Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act says: “Nonexempt workers must be paid overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek.” Confirm the current federal rule at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Checked September 18, 2026.
Meal & rest breaks
The U.S. Department of Labor's table of state meal period requirements, dated January 1, 2023, lists no entry for Florida, and its table of state paid rest period requirements, of the same date, lists none either. Both tables cover adult employees in the private sector; we read them on September 18, 2026. The Department's page “Breaks and Meal Periods”, read on September 18, 2026, says: “Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was worked.” Confirm at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Checked September 18, 2026.
Final paycheck
The U.S. Department of Labor's page “Last Paycheck”, read on September 18, 2026, says: “Employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately. Some states, however, may require immediate payment.” The page names no state's rule. Confirm before relying on it — see the sources below.
Checked September 18, 2026.
Wage-claim filing deadline
The 2026 Florida Statutes put a claim under the Florida Minimum Wage Act (Fla. Stat. §448.110) at four years, and five where the violation was willful: §95.11(3)(p) lists under “WITHIN FOUR YEARS” an “action alleging a violation, other than a willful violation, of s. 448.110”, and §95.11(2)(d) lists under “WITHIN FIVE YEARS” an “action alleging a willful violation of s. 448.110”. Fla. Const. Art. X, §24(e) states the same limits: “Actions to enforce this amendment shall be subject to a statute of limitations of four years or, in the case of willful violations, five years.” §448.110(8) runs the clock from “the date the alleged violation occurred”. For federal claims, the U.S. Department of Labor's Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act, read on September 18, 2026, says: “Generally, a 2-year statute of limitations applies to the recovery of back wages and liquidated damages. A 3-year statute of limitations applies in cases involving willful violations.” Confirm the deadline for your own claim before relying on it.
Checked September 28, 2026.
Where to file / who enforces
No Florida state agency that takes wage claims was found in the primary sources read on September 18, 2026, which included Florida Statutes § 448.110, the Florida Minimum Wage Act. Minimum-wage and overtime matters are commonly pursued through the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or in court. Check the current process at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Checked September 18, 2026.

Official Florida source (minimum wage): FloridaCommerce

Official Florida source (the notice the figures are quoted from): FloridaCommerce — Minimum Wage in Florida, Notice to Employees 2025–2026 (PDF)

Florida constitution: Fla. Const. Art. X, §24 — Florida minimum wage

Florida statute (the deadline and the notice step): Fla. Stat. §448.110 — State minimum wage; annual wage adjustment; enforcement

Florida statute (limitations): Fla. Stat. §95.11 — Limitations other than for the recovery of real property

Federal source (enforcement): U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division

If you file a complaint

What the agency’s own pages say, quoted, with the page each came from. Where a page says nothing, that is what is written here — a fact about the page, not about the law.

Is retaliation for complaining prohibited?

Florida Statutes § 448.110, the “Florida Minimum Wage Act”, subsection (5):

“It shall be unlawful for an employer or any other party to discriminate in any manner or take adverse action against any person in retaliation for exercising rights protected pursuant to s. 24, Art. X of the State Constitution. Rights protected include, but are not limited to, the right to file a complaint or inform any person of his or her potential rights pursuant to s. 24, Art. X of the State Constitution and to assist him or her in asserting such rights.”

Law named: Fla. Stat. § 448.110(5)

— The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes § 448.110

Checked September 18, 2026.

What’s different here

Rules that apply here and not in most other states. Each one carries the date it was last checked, and comes off this page rather than going stale.

You have to write to your employer before you can sue for unpaid minimum wages
In Florida you must write to your employer before you can sue for unpaid minimum wages. The notice has to state the wage you claim and the work dates and hours it covers, and the employer then gets 15 calendar days to pay or settle it.
Fla. Stat. §448.110(6)(a) requires that the notice “identify the minimum wage to which the person aggrieved claims entitlement, the actual or estimated work dates and hours for which payment is sought, and the total amount of alleged unpaid wages through the date of the notice.” §448.110(6)(b) gives the employer “15 calendar days after receipt of the notice to pay the total amount of unpaid wages or otherwise resolve the claim to the satisfaction of the person aggrieved”, and tolls the limitation period for those 15 days. That notice is a list of dates, hours and amounts — which is what a dated log as you go actually produces.
Florida statute: Fla. Stat. §448.110 — State minimum wage; annual wage adjustment; enforcement
Checked September 28, 2026.

If you are paid commission

No written-agreement requirement for employees here.

This state has a law that looks almost exactly like California’s — it requires a written contract setting out how commission is worked out and paid. But it applies to self-employed sales representatives, and expressly excludes employees. If you’re on payroll, it isn’t yours to rely on.

That doesn’t make a written plan any less useful. It means nobody is obliged to hand you one — which is exactly why keeping whatever you were given matters.

The statute: Fla. Stat. §686.201

Checked August 2026. This tells you what to go and read. It does not decide anything about your situation.

Is it legal?

The Break Room answers the question behind a block above from the regulation or fact sheet itself, quoted, with a link to the page the words were read from.

Is it legal for my employer to pay commission with no written plan?
It is decided state by state. California’s statute requires the contract in writing, requires it to say how commissions are computed, and requires a signed copy to be handed over.

What you can do

1
Write down your job basics
Employer or platform, your role, your agreed rate or commission terms, and how you're classified.
2
Log every shift or job as it happens
Start time, end time, and any break taken or missed.
3
Note off-the-clock work
Tasks before clocking in, after clocking out, or during unpaid time.
4
Record each payment and compare it to what you expected
Flag anything missing or short.
5
For gig and commission work, save the details
The job details, the promised amount, and what actually arrived.
6
Keep your paperwork together
Copies of pay stubs, contracts, messages, schedules, and screenshots.
7
Write down mistreatment or retaliation
The date, what happened, and who witnessed it.
8
Store your records safely
Somewhere the employer cannot alter or delete them. Florida has a notice step before a minimum-wage lawsuit, so a clear dated record helps — see the box below.

Where the exact rules matter: the specifics — figures, thresholds, deadlines, and which rules apply — vary by state and by your situation. Check them with the U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) or your state labor department rather than relying on a number from anywhere else.

In plain terms

Wage theft: When you aren't paid all the money you earned — unpaid hours, unpaid overtime, missing pay, or illegal deductions.
Off-the-clock work: Work that isn't counted or paid, such as tasks before or after your recorded shift.
Overtime: Extra pay owed for working beyond a set number of hours. The governing rules are in the box above.
Retaliation: When an employer punishes you for raising a concern or reporting a problem.
Misclassification: Being labeled a contractor when the law may treat the worker as an employee — a difference that changes which pay rules apply.
Pre-suit notice: A written heads-up Florida generally requires you to give an employer before a minimum-wage lawsuit.

Where rippedoffworker comes in

The guide tells you what to do — the app does it with you.

rippedoffworker helps workers of every kind — hourly, salaried, gig and contractor, and commission-based — log the hours, pay, and treatment as they happen. It builds a dated record over time: unpaid or underpaid wages, missing gig or commission earnings, missed breaks, off-the-clock work, and mistreatment or retaliation — soyour own figures and the pattern behind it are organized in one place, ready to take to the people who can help.

Try the demo Start my record

rippedoffworker is a record-keeping tool, not a law firm, and does not give legal advice. Any amounts are arithmetic on the figures you entered — apparent, not a guaranteed or legally determined amount.