The act will phase out the subminimum wage for disabled workers in sheltered workshops over a five-year period. One key element of their work involves support for The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act, which was introduced by Senators Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) and Steve Daines (R-Montana) earlier this year. Their efforts include legislative advocacy at the state and federal levels, among other strategies. Not surprisingly, disability rights groups are working to raise the wage and completely eliminate workshops. As of July 2020, the most recent data available, the Department of Labor counted 67,288 individuals earning a subminimum wage thanks to 14(c). Her position gained traction and when the Fair Labor Standards Act became law in 1938, it included Section 14(c) to enable employers to pay those deemed disabled an unspecified, but lower, salary.įast forward 84 years and the average hourly wage for sheltered workshop participants is currently $3.34. Those who “by reason of illness or age or something else are not up to normal production” would benefit, she testified. Depression-era Labor Secretary Frances Perkins was a proponent of this idea, and urged Congress to allow a lowered wage for shell-shocked World War I veterans who were having trouble reintegrating into the labor force. The subminimum for disabled workers has its roots in another discriminatory policy and rests on the idea that disabled workers - especially those with intellectual limitations - are less competent and need to be isolated from others. Disabled workers in much of the country can work for pennies an hour forever unless they live in one of the 14 states that have phased out the subminimum for disabled workers. In many cases, tips replaced fixed wages and it was not until 1966 that the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended to require a tiny subminimum wage for workers in restaurants, bars, hotels, and other typically tipped occupations. According to the Center for American Progress, tipping became common after Emancipation, allowing businesses to exploit Black workers through substandard pay. If you’re confused, you’re not alone, and labor activists are working hard to end the geographic diversity, raise wages for all workers and build worker power.īefore we parse this, here’s some history regarding how this hodge-podge came to be. Other employment categories are unrestricted, meaning that disabled workers in much of the country can work for pennies an hour forever unless they live in one of the 14 states that have phased out the subminimum for disabled workers. Disabled workers employed in a “ sheltered workshop,” vocational education pupils, agricultural workers, prisoners, and full-time students employed in retail or service businesses can be paid less than minimum wage, thanks to a provision in 1938’s Fair Labor Standards Act.īut here, too, there are some inconsistencies: To wit, employers can pay workers under age 20 a subminimum wage of $4.25 an hour for no more than 90 calendar days after they begin the job. What’s more, it’s not just tipped workers who are paid lawful, but outrageously low, subminimum wages. For example, New York State ended the subminimum wage for aestheticians, car wash workers, dog groomers, door persons, hairdressers, manicurists, tour guides, tow truck drivers and valet parking attendants in 2020, but left the subminimum in place for wait staff and bartenders. pay workers more than $2.13 but less than the federal $7.25 hourly minimum.Īnd the variations don’t end here. The remaining states - 28 and Washington, D.C. But if you’re a tipped worker in one of 15 (mostly Southern) states, you earn just $2.13 an hour - a subminimum rate that has been in place since 1991. If you happen to live in Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon or Washington State, and work in an occupation that relies on tips from customers, you must be paid your state’s full minimum wage for every hour you work.
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