The Miami Herald reports that Miami-Dade “[c]ounty overwhelmingly passed a new ordinance to combat wage theft, making it easier for workers to bring legal action against employers who fail to pay them.

Thursday’s vote comes after more than a year of work by a non-governmental task force of labor and immigrant advocates in Miami. San Francisco has a similar ordinance. Los Angeles and New Orleans are considering them.”

In addition to recovering the unpaid wages that have been wrongly denied them, workers can recover 2 times that amount in additional damages.  The ordinance will result in a a low-cost administrative process that seeks to speed along claims for workers who have not been properly paid their wages.