Challenge To Miami-Dade 'Living Wage' Rejected
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - A federal appeals court has sided with Miami-Dade County in a lawsuit filed by Amerijet International challenging part of the county's "living wage ordinance."
The ordinance, approved in 1999, requires government contractors and some businesses that use Miami International Airport to pay workers more than the minimum wage.
Amerijet filed the challenge because the county said the living-wage ordinance applied to cargo services that the company provided for other airlines, according to Monday's ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The county did not apply the ordinance to cargo that Amerijet handled for its own customers. The company said the requirements should not apply to it because of the 1978 federal Airline Deregulation Act or because the disputed part of the ordinance violated the U.S. Constitution.
But a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld a district judge's ruling in favor of the county.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.