[Ct-nfb] RESOLUTION 2011-17 Regarding the Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization

Tue Jul 12 11:19:55 UTC 2011

--- On Tue, 7/12/11, Monica Webster <monicawebster at me.com> wrote:

Dear Fellow Federationists,

Michael Barber reports that the NFB of Iowa has sent over seventy 
letters to Senator Harkin, urging him to remove Section 511 from Title V 
of the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA). This bill will be marked up and voted on 
Wednesday, June 29, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. If your senator is on the 
Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP committee), please 
continue to write and call regarding this issue.

Section 511 reauthorizes payment of subminimum wages to people with 
disabilities. It is completely contrary to the purpose of the 
Rehabilitation Act, which is intended to promote competitive, integrated 
employment.

The following list contains the names of members of the HELP committee. 
If your senator is a member of the committee, please call his/her office 
to respectfully
express your adamant objection to linking subminimum wage to the 
Rehabilitation Act, and to insist that Section 511 of the Rehabilitation 
Act be removed
from the bill. If your senator is not a member of the HELP committee, 
call the committee chair (Senator Tom Harkin) and the ranking member 
(Senator Michael
Enzi) to register your objection. Additional background information on 
Section 511 follows after the HELP committee list.

Sincerely,

Anil Lewis
Director of Strategic Communications
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Telephone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2374
E-mail:
alewis at nfb.org

table with 3 columns and 23 rows
Senator

State

Telephone

Senator Lamar Alexander

Tennessee

(202) 224-4944

Senator Michael F. Bennet

Colorado

(202) 224-5852

Senator Jeff Bingaman

New Mexico

(202) 224-5521

Senator Richard Blumenthal

Connecticut

(202) 224-2823

Senator Richard Burr

North Carolina

(202) 224-3154

Senator Robert Casey, Jr.

Pennsylvania

(202) 224-6324

Senator Mike Enzi

Wyoming

(202) 224-3424

Senator Al Franken

Minnesota

(202) 224-5641

Senator Kay R. Hagan

North Carolina

(202) 224-6342

Senator Tom Harkin

Iowa

(202) 224-3254

Senator Orrin G. Hatch

Utah

(202) 224-5251

Senator Johnny Isakson

Georgia

(202) 224-3643

Senator Mark Steven Kirk

Illinois

(202) 224-2854

Senator John McCain

Arizona

(202) 224-2235

Senator Jeff Merkley

Oregon

(202) 224-3753

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski

Maryland

(202) 224-4654

Senator Lisa Murkowski

Alaska

(202) 224-6665

Senator Patty Murray

Washington

(202) 224-2621

Senator Rand Paul

Kentucky

(202) 224-4343

Senator Pat Roberts

Kansas

(202) 224-4774

Senator Bernard Sanders

Vermont

(202) 224-5141

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Rhode Island

(202) 224-2921
table end

Background:

The key legislation around the recent Subminimum Wage legislative alert 
is the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), specifically Title V, the 
Rehabilitation
Act, which is one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting 
the lives of people with disabilities. There is no bill number assigned 
at this
time, but we have been provided the proposed draft language. On 
Wednesday, June 29, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions (HELP
committee) will be marking up the WIA reauthorization. So far, we have 
been unsuccessful in our efforts to have Section 511 removed from the 
language.

As the Senate works to reauthorize the Rehabilitation Act, a new section 
has been added, Section 511, which links Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor 
Standards
Act (FSLA) to the Rehabilitation Act. Section 14(c) of the FLSA is the 
law that allows employers to pay subminimum wages to their workers with 
disabilities.
There are more than 5,000 entities that hold special wage certificates 
allowing them to pay subminimum wages to more than 400,000 workers with 
disabilities.
Section 14(c) is flawed in its implementation, and it has been plagued 
with abuse of employers paying workers with disabilities even less than 
the subminimum
wage they are entitled to receive as a result of this law. The Wage and 
Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor is charged with the 
responsibility
of oversight, but they are only able to investigate 2 percent of the 
facilities a year. Many workers with disabilities have not been able to 
collect millions
of dollars of back wages because the statute of limitations has passed 
before WHD can identify the violation.

Section 14(c) is simply unenforceable. We have fought against this 
provision since the founding of our organization, and we have made 
significant progress.
Section 511 threatens that progress.

The language found in Section 511 is a restatement of Section 14(c) of 
the FLSA, linking legislation that is supposed to provide the training 
and support
for people with disabilities to obtain competitive employment to 
legislation that asserts that people with disabilities cannot be 
competitively employed.
The philosophies are in direct conflict, and Section 511 sends a mixed 
message about the purpose of vocational rehabilitation (VR).

Section 511 explains the process a counselor would have to go through 
before referring a client to a subminimum wage work environment. The 
intent is to
make it more difficult for clients to be steered toward subminimum wage 
employment. Unfortunately, the language opens a door to subminimum wage 
employment
that did not previously exist. As a result of Section 511, if VR fails 
to provide a client with the proper training and support to become 
competitively
employed, they will be encouraged to make a referral to a subminimum 
wage employer.

The language states that, once placed in a subminimum wage work 
environment, the client should receive a review every six months. 
However, similar to WHD's
inability to enforce Section 14(c) of the FLSA, it will not be possible 
for VR to properly enforce this law, leaving even more individuals stuck 
in subminimum
wage jobs. A better use of the inadequate funding potentially slated for 
enforcement of Section 511, and the insufficient funding for WHD to 
enforce Section
14(c) would be to develop creative rehabilitation strategies to 
competitively employ all people with disabilities.

Many people have come to believe that subminimum wage employment is an 
opportunity for people with disabilities to experience the tangible and 
intangible
benefits of work. We maintain that there is no benefit, tangible or 
intangible, to working in an environment that asserts that you are not 
as good as
everyone else. Industries have been built on this false perception, 
allowing people, who otherwise would be able to obtain competitive 
employment, to
be exploited at subminimum wages to bolster an employer's profitability. 
The job market has changed drastically since the initial passage of this 
outdated
legislation. With the proper training and support, people with even the 
most significant disabilities are able to be competitively employed.

We need to let members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pension know that Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act 
should be removed
from the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.

From: Monica Webster <monicawebster at me.com>
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] RESOLUTION 2011-17 Regarding the Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization
To: "NFB of Connecticut Mailing List" <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 6:46 AM

What is richard blumenthals number? Anyone have it, that makes life even easier if so

Monica Webster
Coldwell Banker Previews Int'l

On Jul 12, 2011, at 6:43 AM, Richard McGaffin <rmcgaffin at snet.net> wrote:

Hey Justin:

You may have finished selling your M&Ms before me, but with my wife's help we ended up selling  another 24 bags so I won in the end (just messing with you) great seeing you at the convention and I have to admit I almost forgot to call, but thankfully Joyce Kane reminded me of it.

have a good one

Rich

--- On Mon, 7/11/11, Salisbury, Justin Mark <SALISBURYJ08 at students.ecu.edu> wrote:

From: Salisbury, Justin Mark <SALISBURYJ08 at students.ecu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] RESOLUTION 2011-17 Regarding the Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization
To: "NFB of Connecticut Mailing List" <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
Date: Monday, July 11, 2011, 2:55 PM

We need everyone to call about this!  That means you!  

It takes literally less than five minutes.  I doubt I could have made that assistant to Senator Blumenthal stay on the phone for five whole minutes even if I had tried.  I promise that you all do have the time.

Justin

Justin M. Salisbury
Undergraduate Student
The University Honors Program
East Carolina University
salisburyj08 at students.ecu.edu

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD

________________________________________
From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of llee at nfbct.org [llee at nfbct.org]
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 2:31 PM
To: NFB of CT list serve
Subject: [Ct-nfb] RESOLUTION 2011-17 Regarding the Workforce Investment Act     Reauthorization

Here is a resolution that was passed at the NFB National Convention last week.

RESOLUTION 2011-17
Regarding the Workforce Investment Act Reauthorization
Proponent:

WHEREAS, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions has distributed language for the reauthorization of the
Workforce Investment Act including a proposed Section 511 of Title V
(the Rehabilitation Act), which would provide for employment of
people with significant disabilities at wages below the federally
mandated minimum wage; and

WHEREAS, the proposed language of Section 511 would be a tacit
endorsement of the subminimum wage provision found in Section 14(c)
of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its antiquated contention
that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed; and

WHEREAS, this language links the Rehabilitation Act, which was
established to assist people with disabilities in obtaining
competitive integrated employment, with Section 14(c) of the FLSA,
which is based on the false premise that people with disabilities can
not be competitively employed and therefore can be paid subminimum wages;
and

WHEREAS, the language in Section 511 that defines what steps a
vocational rehabilitation counselor must take before steering a
client into subminimum-wage employment is intended to prevent youth
with disabilities from being tracked into subminimum-wage jobs, but
is likely instead to track clients into subminimum-wage employment; and

WHEREAS, language in Section 511 asserts that employers holding a
certificate that allows them to pay subminimum wages can also serve
as training facilities for people with disabilities, a claim that
ignores the fact that job training services provided by an employer
holding a special wage certificate are likely to reinforce the low
expectation that workers with disabilities cannot be competitively
employed, since the incentive is for the employer to continue
exploiting their labor rather than prepare workers for other employment; and

WHEREAS, the Section 511 documentation and review process, which is
meant to provide safeguards against inappropriate use of
subminimum-wage employment, does not take into consideration the fact
that state Vocational Rehabilitation programs do not have the
resources to ensure effective compliance with the various
documentation and review requirements, including the six-month review
period in the proposed language, creating an opportunity to expand
the exploitation caused by Section 14(c) of the FLSA; and

WHEREAS, the good intentions motivating the development of Section
511 are likely to result in enormous negative consequences,
especially the validation of subminimum-wage employment as a viable
outcome for people with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, the language does not provide an effective procedure for
workers to challenge improper placement in such employment: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention

assembled this seventh day of July, 2011, in the city of Orlando,
Florida, that this organization call on members of the Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to remove Section
511 of the proposed Rehabilitation Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon all members of Congress,
not to address the unjust law of Section 14(c) with ineffective
measures, but to take direct action to abolish the reprehensible
practice of subminimum-wage employment forever.

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