Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 (FLSA) allows entities holding what are called “special
wage certificates” to pay their disabled workers less than the federal
minimum wage.
These entities are almost always
segregated workplaces, sometimes called “sheltered workshops,” that
employ workers with various disabilities, including sensory, physical,
and cognitive or developmental disabilities. Federal law requires that
certain goods and services procured by the federal government be
purchased from these sheltered workshops in order to provide workers
with disabilities with employment, but these workers do not have the
same protections that other American workers have. Most importantly,
over 300,000 workers with disabilities do not receive the federal
minimum wage.
People with disabilities have the right
and ability to work in the same jobs earning the same wages as
nondisabled workers. There are many examples of individuals with
significant disabilities who, when provided the proper training and
support, have acquired a competitive job skill to earn at least minimum
wage. Very few, if any, disabled or nondisabled individuals acquire a
competitive job skill through performing menial tasks in sheltered,
segregated, subminimum-wage work environments. We must set higher
expectations and provide real training and support for all people to
become fully participating members of society.
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