By Christine Sexton
Florida Phoenix, Sept 29, 2026. Also in Yahoo News, the Bradenton Times, Florida Trend business magazine, Citrus County Chronicle, News from the States
An estimated 1.29 million minimum-wage (nontip) Florida workers will start earning a $15 hourly wage Wednesday. ...
Florida voters approved the $15 minimum wage in 2020 in the form of Amendment 2 when the state’s minimum wage at the time was $8.46 an hour. Amendment 2 required that the minimum wage be increased to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021, and by $1 a year thereafter until Sept. 30, when it hit the $15 mark. Thereafter, the minimum wage increases annually based on inflation. ...
Sisters Leigh Anne Balzekas and Kristine Ownley are co-owners of The Disco Dolls Studio, a clothing store, hair salon, and art gallery in Tampa. The business is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year.
The siblings worked with the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage in 2020 to support passage of the $15 minimum wage.
They say the shop doesn’t have high turnover and its customer service is great, which they attribute to happy, well-paid employees.
Ownley told the Phoenix costs at the retail shop are high. “But so are living expenses. I’m the owner, so it’s up to me to make the business profitable, it’s not my employees’ responsibility to work for less,” she said.