People with disabilities are still legally allowed to be paid less than minimum wage, but the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is proposing an end to subminimum wage.
The Civil Rights Commission is bringing subminimum wage to Congress after receiving thousands of opinions from the public and persons of disability that work in Section 14(c) or outside of Section 14(c) businesses. The overall consensus was that this is a discriminatory section of the Fair Labor Act, and more came to light.
Not only is Section 14(c) discriminatory and outdated, but there is very little regulation and a lot of oversight, which has allowed this program to continue to be enacted without meeting its legislative goals. The goal of Section 14(c) was always to meet the needs of people with disabilities, so they could receive support and become independent within the competitive economy, as the report pointed out.
The Americans with Disabilities Act negates the need for subminimum wage, as integrating people with disabilities is required under the ADA. So, the Civil Rights Commission has visited a variety of workplaces, some that have used phase-out plans and others that have not. They’ve spoken to the people, they’ve analyzed and researched, and they have ultimately approached Congress with a plan to slowly remove Section 14(c) from use.
In Subminimum Wages: Impacts on the Civil Rights of People with Disabilities (PDF), the Commission on Civil Rights proposes that:
As of January, 2020, the Commission found that there are 1,558 certificates issued or pending and that 93% of those were held by community rehab programs. A community rehab program is a facility for vocational rehabilitation services, where people with disabilities receive help in learning independence. Segregation does not equal independence. Vocational rehab exists to help those with disabilities maximize their chances of employment in the world around them.
Subminimum wage is the act of paying "certain individuals at wage rates below the statutory minimum," according to the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. The DOL goes on to clarify:
Such individuals include student-learners (vocational education students), as well as full-time students employed in retail or service establishments, agriculture, or institutions of higher education. Also included are individuals whose earning or productive capacities are impaired by a physical or mental disability, including those related to age or injury, for the work to be performed. Employment at less than the minimum wage is authorized to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment. Such employment is permitted only under certificates issued by the Wage and Hour Division.
Section 14(c), which covers the employment of workers with disabilities, is part of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Civil Rights Commission is an independent bipartisan agency established by The Civil Rights Act of 1957. Since that time Congress has extended the legislation of the Commission several times, though the last time was in 1994. They are an organization created to be independent of parties and opinions, and seek facts. The Civil Rights Commission is a federal agency meant to inform and help the development of civil rights policies and enhancements along.
Section 14(c) was created to help protect people with certain disabilities and ensure that everyone could work safely. However, as time has gone on and more research has been performed, some companies are holding the certificate, and subminimum wage is not as fair as it was once thought to be.
In the Civil Rights Commission’s report, they found through research that people who are still receiving Section 14(c) subminimum wages are not categorically different from people with similar disabilities, who now work in competitive integrated employment. In this same report, they declared Section 14(c) to be discriminatory and outdated.