{ "type": "practice-guide", "canonical": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida", "links": [ { "rel": "self", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida.json", "type": "application/json" }, { "rel": "alternate", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida", "type": "text/html" }, { "rel": "alternate", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida/markdown", "type": "text/markdown" }, { "rel": "alternate", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida/json", "type": "application/json" } ], "data": { "topic": "wage-and-hour", "state": "florida", "frontmatter": { "title": "Wage and Hour Law in Florida", "description": "A question-by-question summary of Florida wage and hour law, covering the voter-enacted constitutional minimum wage that is indexed above the federal floor and reaches $15.00 in September 2026, the absence of any state overtime or meal-and-rest-break mandate, the lack of a statutory final-pay deadline or private-sector pay-frequency rule, the mandatory 15-day pre-suit notice and liquidated-damages remedy under the Florida Minimum Wage Act, the FLSA economic-realities test for worker status, and the partial tip credit capped at the 2003 federal amount.", "state": "Florida", "lastReviewed": "2026-07-05", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "authors": [ "steven-obiajulu" ], "summary": { "minimumWageFloor": "indexedHigh", "bottomLine": "Florida sets a single voter-enacted minimum wage indexed above the federal floor — $14.00 an hour, rising to $15.00 on September 30, 2026 — but adds almost no other state wage-and-hour rules: overtime, breaks, final-pay timing, pay frequency, and wage statements are all left to federal law, and a worker must send a 15-day pre-suit notice before suing for unpaid minimum wages.", "keyLaw": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24; Fla. Stat. §§ 110.113, 218.077, 448.01, 448.08, 448.110, 450.081", "dailyOvertime": "weeklyOnly", "mealRestBreaks": "none", "finalPayTiming": "nextPayday", "latePayPenalty": "liquidatedDamages", "payFrequency": "noStateRule", "wageStatement": "none", "workerClassificationTest": "economicRealities", "tipCredit": "partialTipCredit", "currentAsOf": "2026-07-01" }, "about": [ "Florida wage and hour law", "Florida minimum wage and the constitutional indexing formula", "Florida overtime and meal-and-rest breaks", "Florida final pay and the Minimum Wage Act pre-suit notice", "Florida worker classification (FLSA economic-realities test)", "Florida tip credit" ], "translations": [ { "language": "中文", "status": "planned" }, { "language": "Español", "status": "planned" }, { "language": "Português", "status": "planned" }, { "language": "Deutsch", "status": "planned" } ] }, "questions": [ { "slug": "minimum-wage", "label": "What is the state minimum wage, and how does it relate to the federal floor?", "heading": "What is the minimum wage?", "answerText": "Florida has a single statewide minimum wage set by the state constitution, and it sits well above the federal floor of $7.25 per hour. In 2020 the voters approved Amendment 2, which raised the wage to $10.00 an hour on September 30, 2021 and then adds $1.00 every September 30 until it reaches $15.00 on September 30, 2026 — so the rate is $14.00 today and steps up to $15.00 this fall. After 2026 the wage is indexed to inflation and recalculated each year rather than by a fresh vote. No Florida city or county sets a higher local minimum for private employers, because the state bars a political subdivision from mandating any minimum wage other than the state or federal figure — subject only to narrow carve-outs for the subdivision's own workforce, its contractors, and employers receiving a direct tax subsidy.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-const-art10-s24-schedule", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24", "citation": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24(c).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution", "proposition": "Article X, section 24 of the Florida Constitution raised the state minimum wage to $10.00 on September 30, 2021 and increases it by $1.00 each September 30 until it reaches $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026.", "verbatimQuote": "Effective September 30th, 2021, the existing state Minimum Wage shall increase to $10.00 per hour, and then increase each September 30th thereafter by $1.00 per hour, until the Minimum Wage reaches $15.00 per hour on September 30th, 2026.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-const-art10-s24-schedule" }, { "id": "fl-const-art10-s24-index", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24", "citation": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24(c).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution", "proposition": "After the scheduled increases reach $15.00, Article X, section 24 indexes the Florida minimum wage to inflation, directing an annual September 30 adjustment by the change in the CPI-W.", "verbatimQuote": "On September 30th of 2027 and on each following September 30th, the state Agency for Workforce Innovation shall calculate an adjusted Minimum Wage rate by increasing the current Minimum Wage rate by the rate of inflation during the twelve months prior to each September 1st using the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, CPI-W, or a successor index as calculated by the United States Department of Labor.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-const-art10-s24-index" }, { "id": "fl-stat-218-077", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 218.077", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 218.077(2).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/218.077", "proposition": "Section 218.077(2) bars a Florida county or municipality from requiring an employer to pay a minimum wage other than the state or federal minimum wage — subject to the subsection (3) carve-outs for a subdivision's own employees, its contractors, and direct-subsidy recipients — so there is no higher local minimum wage for private employers generally.", "verbatimQuote": "a political subdivision may not establish, mandate, or otherwise require an employer to pay a minimum wage, other than a state or federal minimum wage, to apply a state or federal minimum wage to wages exempt from a state or federal minimum wage, or to provide employment benefits not otherwise required by state or federal law.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-218-077" } ] }, { "slug": "overtime", "label": "Does the state require daily overtime beyond the federal 40-hour weekly rule?", "heading": "When is overtime owed?", "answerText": "There is no modern Florida overtime statute. Overtime for the general Florida workforce is governed by the FLSA, which requires one-and-one-half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek and has no daily-overtime or double-time tier. Florida's one wage-hours provision is a narrow nineteenth-century default: Section 448.01 makes ten hours a legal day's work for a person employed to perform manual labor, and entitles that worker to extra pay past ten hours in a day — but only where no signed written contract sets a different number of daily hours. Because a written agreement fixing the daily hours displaces the default, the practical overtime rule for most Florida employees is the federal 40-hour weekly standard.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-stat-448-01", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.01", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.01(2).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.01", "proposition": "Section 448.01 makes ten hours a legal day's work for a person employed to perform manual labor and entitles that worker to extra pay past ten hours a day only where no signed written contract sets a different number of daily hours, so a written agreement fixing daily hours displaces the default and leaves overtime to the FLSA.", "verbatimQuote": "Unless such written contract has been made, the person employed shall be entitled to extra pay for all work performed by the requirement of his or her employer in excess of 10 hours’ labor daily.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-01" } ] }, { "slug": "meal-rest-breaks", "label": "Are meal and rest breaks mandated, and are they paid?", "heading": "Are breaks required?", "answerText": "No — not for adults. Florida has no statute requiring meal or rest breaks for adult private-sector employees; break policy is left to the employer and to the FLSA rules on which breaks count as paid working time. The only Florida break mandate is for children: Section 450.081 requires a 30-minute meal period for a minor 15 or younger who works more than four continuous hours, and the same rule reaches 16- and 17-year-olds on any day they work eight hours or more. For the adult workforce there is no state entitlement to a meal or rest break and no missed-break premium.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-stat-450-081", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 450.081", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 450.081(4).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/450.081", "proposition": "Florida mandates meal breaks only for minors: Section 450.081 requires a 30-minute meal period for a minor 15 or younger who works more than four continuous hours (and for a 16- or 17-year-old on any day of eight hours or more), and imposes no meal-or-rest-break requirement on adult employees.", "verbatimQuote": "Minors 15 years of age or younger may not be employed, permitted, or suffered to work for more than 4 hours continuously without an interval of at least 30 minutes for a meal period; and for the purposes of this law, a period of less than 30 minutes is not deemed to interrupt a continuous period of work.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-450-081" } ] }, { "slug": "final-pay", "label": "When must final wages be paid on separation, and what is the penalty for paying late?", "heading": "When is final pay due?", "answerText": "Florida sets no statutory deadline for final pay. There is no Florida analogue to the accelerated final-pay statutes that make wages due on the day of discharge or within a fixed number of days; final wages are simply due on the next regular payday, and an employee who is shorted pursues the money as an ordinary unpaid-wage claim. Florida does make that claim worth bringing: Section 448.08 lets a court award attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing party in an action for unpaid wages, which is the state's main lever for enforcing any wage debt.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-stat-448-08", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.08", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.08.", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.08", "proposition": "Section 448.08 lets a court award costs and a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party in an action for unpaid wages — the fee-shifting rule that makes an unpaid-wage claim economical to bring where Florida sets no accelerated final-pay deadline.", "verbatimQuote": "The court may award to the prevailing party in an action for unpaid wages costs of the action and a reasonable attorney’s fee.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-08" } ] }, { "slug": "late-pay-penalty", "label": "What is the penalty for paying minimum wages late or not at all?", "heading": "What is the penalty for underpaying?", "answerText": "For a minimum-wage shortfall, the Florida Minimum Wage Act doubles the damages — but only after the worker gives the employer a chance to cure. A worker who prevails recovers the unpaid back wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, along with attorney's fees and costs. First, though, the worker must send a written pre-suit notice and wait: the employer has 15 calendar days to pay or resolve the claim before any suit can be filed.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-stat-448-110-liquidated", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110(6)(c)1.", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.110", "proposition": "Under the Florida Minimum Wage Act, a prevailing worker recovers the unpaid back wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages, together with reasonable attorney's fees and costs.", "verbatimQuote": "Upon prevailing in an action brought pursuant to this section, aggrieved persons shall recover the full amount of any unpaid back wages unlawfully withheld plus the same amount as liquidated damages and shall be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-110-liquidated" }, { "id": "fl-stat-448-110-notice", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110(6)(a).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.110", "proposition": "The Florida Minimum Wage Act requires a worker to give the employer written pre-suit notice of an intent to sue for unpaid minimum wages before any such action may be brought.", "verbatimQuote": "However, prior to bringing any claim for unpaid minimum wages pursuant to this section, the person aggrieved shall notify the employer alleged to have violated this section, in writing, of an intent to initiate such an action.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-110-notice" }, { "id": "fl-stat-448-110-cure", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110(6)(b).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.110", "proposition": "After receiving the pre-suit notice, the employer has 15 calendar days to pay the unpaid wages or otherwise resolve the claim before the worker may sue.", "verbatimQuote": "The employer shall have 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.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-110-cure" } ] }, { "slug": "pay-frequency", "label": "How often must workers be paid?", "heading": "How often must workers be paid?", "answerText": "Florida imposes no pay-frequency rule on private employers. Unlike states that require weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly paydays, Florida law fixes a pay cadence only for its own state officers and employees — Section 110.113 sets their normal pay period at one month. There is no comparable statute for private-sector workers, so a private Florida employer may set its own regular payday, subject only to whatever the employment contract provides.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-stat-110-113", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 110.113", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 110.113(1).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/110.113", "proposition": "Florida's only statutory pay-period rule governs state officers and employees — Section 110.113 sets their normal pay period at one month — and there is no pay-frequency statute for private-sector employers.", "verbatimQuote": "The normal pay period for salaries of state officers and employees shall be 1 month.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-110-113" } ] }, { "slug": "worker-classification", "label": "What test does the state use to classify a worker as an employee or contractor?", "heading": "Employee or independent contractor?", "answerText": "For wage-and-hour purposes, Florida uses the FLSA economic-realities test — not the common-law control test that governs some other areas of Florida law. The constitutional minimum wage defines its own terms by reference to the FLSA: Employer, Employee, and Wage all carry the meanings established under the federal statute. The amendment goes further and directs that FLSA case law guides its construction, which imports the federal economic-realities analysis of who is an employee.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-const-art10-s24-definitions", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24", "citation": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24(b).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution", "proposition": "Article X, section 24 defines Employer, Employee, and Wage by reference to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, so the wage-and-hour classification of a worker is governed by the FLSA definition of employee rather than a separate state test.", "verbatimQuote": "As used in this amendment, the terms “Employer,” “Employee” and “Wage” shall have the meanings established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its implementing regulations.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-const-art10-s24-definitions" }, { "id": "fl-const-art10-s24-construction", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24", "citation": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24(f).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution", "proposition": "Article X, section 24 directs that FLSA case law and administrative interpretations guide its construction, importing the federal economic-realities test for employee status into Florida minimum-wage law.", "verbatimQuote": "It is intended that case law, administrative interpretations, and other guiding standards developed under the federal FLSA shall guide the construction of this amendment and any implementing statutes or regulations.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-const-art10-s24-construction" } ] }, { "slug": "tip-credit", "label": "Does the state allow a tip credit against the cash minimum wage?", "heading": "Is a tip credit allowed?", "answerText": "Yes, but only a partial one, capped below the full federal credit. Article X, section 24 lets an employer credit tips toward the minimum wage up to the amount of the allowable FLSA tip credit as it stood in 2003. Under the 2003 federal law that cap works out to $3.02 an hour (the $5.15 federal minimum then less the $2.13 tipped cash wage). Because the credit is frozen at that 2003 amount while the state minimum wage keeps rising, a tipped employee's minimum cash wage is the current Florida minimum minus $3.02 — $10.98 an hour while the wage is $14.00, the figure Florida publishes as its tipped minimum, and far above the $2.13 federal tipped cash wage.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-const-art10-s24-tipcredit", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24", "citation": "Fla. Const. art. X, § 24(c).", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution", "proposition": "Article X, section 24 allows only a partial tip credit, capped at the amount of the FLSA tip credit as it stood in 2003 ($3.02), so a tipped worker's minimum cash wage is the state minimum wage minus $3.02.", "verbatimQuote": "For tipped Employees meeting eligibility requirements for the tip credit under the FLSA, Employers may credit towards satisfaction of the Minimum Wage tips up to the amount of the allowable FLSA tip credit in 2003.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-const-art10-s24-tipcredit" } ] }, { "slug": "enforcement", "label": "How is wage-and-hour law enforced, and can employees sue?", "heading": "How is it enforced?", "answerText": "Mainly by private lawsuit. A worker underpaid below the constitutional minimum wage may sue under the Florida Minimum Wage Act — after the mandatory 15-day pre-suit notice — to recover the unpaid wages, an equal amount as liquidated damages, and attorney's fees and costs. The Attorney General may also bring a civil action and seek a $1,000 fine for a willful violation. For unpaid wages generally, outside the minimum-wage context, Florida's lever is the fee-shifting statute that makes even small wage claims worth pursuing.", "sources": [ { "id": "fl-stat-448-110-remedy", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.110(6)(c)1.", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.110", "proposition": "The Florida Minimum Wage Act gives a prevailing worker the unpaid back wages plus an equal amount as liquidated damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs, the state's enhanced remedy for minimum-wage violations.", "verbatimQuote": "Upon prevailing in an action brought pursuant to this section, aggrieved persons shall recover the full amount of any unpaid back wages unlawfully withheld plus the same amount as liquidated damages and shall be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-110-remedy" }, { "id": "fl-stat-448-08-enforcement", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Fla. Stat. § 448.08", "citation": "Fla. Stat. § 448.08.", "url": "https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/448.08", "proposition": "For unpaid-wage claims generally, Section 448.08 lets a court award costs and a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party, the main enforcement lever for wage debts outside the minimum-wage context.", "verbatimQuote": "The court may award to the prevailing party in an action for unpaid wages costs of the action and a reasonable attorney’s fee.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/florida#src-fl-stat-448-08-enforcement" } ] } ] } }