It’s been a year this week since the Department of Labor initiated a comprehensive review of its Section 14(c) certificate program, which allows employers, after receiving a certificate from the Wage and Hour Division, to pay subminimum wages to workers.
The program has been on the books since 1938. The idea behind it is that disabled workers will learn a skill in those subminimum wage jobs and then advance to better jobs with better pay.
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities under certain conditions. Disability rights advocates, however, have criticized the practice, which they say undermines the contributions of employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Several states, including California, already have enacted laws to eliminate unequal pay.
Since Sept. 26, 2023, “agency officials have held a series of listening sessions and other outreach on the topic, which remains a contentious one within the disability community about whether it helps these workers by giving them economic opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have access to — or is an outdated law that hampers their ability to be fairly compensated for their work,” Politico reported.
The Labor Department sent their findings to the Office of Management and Budget in June with a September target date to release a proposed rule, according to Politico, but so far, there’s been no word on a proposed rule.
According to the Washington Post, at least 40,000 workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the country are paid pennies on the dollar compared with their neurotypical coworkers.
A 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office found that the Labor Department could do more to ensure timely oversight of companies that hire workers under the Section 14(c) certificate program.
“Only about 2% of workers fully transitioned out of 14(c) jobs into a competitive, integrated job, according to August 2021 data from the same agency [GAO],” the Washington Post reported.
A bill pending in the Senate could render the rule moot. The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Steven Daines (R-MT).
“It’s shameful that in some places, people with disabilities are still being paid a subminimum wage. We have to phase out this discriminatory practice and provide people with disabilities the opportunity to work and advance in their jobs,” Casey stated earlier this year.
