The U.S. Department of Labor announced earlier this month a proposed rule that would phase out certificates that allow employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1938.
Advocates have long been calling for the removal of these certificates, which allow employers to pay individuals with disabilities who work under it to be paid below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Melanie Cawthon, the executive director of the San Antonio nonprofit disABILITYsa, said people with disabilities were not considered a part of the workforce before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990.
She said legislation that allowed employers to pay individuals with disabilities a lower rate led to the creation of sheltered workshops, which did not have to pay disabled workers a minimum wage.
“They might be packaging fishing lures, and they get paid a piece rate for each package of lures that are assembled throughout the day. And there definitely [are] not that many [sheltered workshops] left, and there has been a movement lately to reduce and close them across the country,” Cawthon explained.
She added that sheltered workshops typically employ individuals with cognitive disabilities who don’t have proper vocational training or support. “There needs to be a rally of the community as a whole in order to support the closing of these sheltered workshops. It's going to take employers accepting job coaches into the work environments.”
Cawthon said that about 800 Section 14(c) employers remain in the U.S., employing around 40,000 people. She added that phasing out Section 14(c) certificates is a start to eliminating the misconception and attitudinal barrier that prevents people with disabilities from gaining meaningful employment.
"We need to change attitudes and perceptions around disability and create greater awareness about the capabilities of people living with various types of disabilities, we need to promote positions that are available in spaces where people with disabilities are seeking jobs,” Cawthon said. “There are so many parts of society that contribute to the employment of people with disabilities. In Hawaii, one of the parents of our families was mentioning that they start vocational training for individuals with cognitive disabilities in kindergarten, and so it's a lifelong process of educating and getting people ready to transition into adulthood," she added.
Cawthon said that society as a whole, from educational systems to the government, must create systems to support employment for all.
“And then once that's resolved, then we even need to start looking at how we're paying people with disabilities on average, because at this day and time, people with disabilities typically make 74 cents on the dollar to their non-disability counterparts,” she said.
The Department of Labor is accepting public comment on the proposed rule through Jan. 17 at 11:59 p.m. Find more information here.
