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 St. Petersburg
 Code of Ordinances
 Chapter 15. HUMAN RELATIONS
 Article III. WAGE THEFT

  § 15-46. Retaliation prohibited.  

Latest version.

  • (a)

    Employers are prohibited from threatening, intimidating, or taking other adverse action against any employee or person because the employee or person has:

    (1)

    Made a complaint to his or her employer that the employer has engaged in conduct that the employee, reasonably and in good faith, believes violates any provision of this article;

    (2)

    Initiated a proceeding under this article;

    (3)

    Provided information to the POD or any other person regarding a violation, investigation, or proceeding under this article;

    (4)

    Testified in an investigation or proceeding under this article; or

    (5)

    Otherwise exercised rights protected under this article.

    Adverse actions include, but are not limited to, communicating to the employee, whether directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the employee is not lawfully in the United States.

    (b)

    Where such retaliation resulted in any loss of the employee's wages, upon a finding by a hearing officer that an employer retaliated against an employee in violation of this article, the employee is entitled to receive quantifiable wages and liquidated damages.

    (c)

    An employee complaint or other communication need not make explicit reference to this article or to any other provision of law to trigger the protections of this article. The employer, or any person acting on behalf of the employer, taking adverse action against an employee within 90 days of an employee or other person's engagement in the activities set forth in subsection (a) of this section shall raise a presumption that such action is retaliation, which may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that such action was taken for other permissible reasons.

    (d)

    Violations of the retaliation prohibition shall be determined under the same procedures as wage theft complaints, and in the same proceeding as any related wage theft complaint. The City shall order any employer who has been found to have violated the retaliation prohibition to pay to the City the actual administrative processing costs and costs of the hearing, regardless of the findings on any related wage theft claim.

    (Ord. No. 161-H, § 1, 4-16-2015; Ord. No. 251-H, § 4, 12-15-2016)

Former § 15-45, see editor's note § 15-44.