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It helps to have both! Yes, Congress-persons respond to their
constituents, so personal stories etc., are best, but it becomes
especially strong if both the consumers, and professionals are against
it.<br><br>
Dave<br><br>
At 07:26 AM 7/7/2011, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=5 color="#000080">
Brian,<br>
While this helps, is it not more effective coming from comments of
persons impacted by this?<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><br>
</font></div>
<font face="Tahoma" size=2><b>From:</b> ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org
[<a href="mailto:ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org" eudora="autourl">
mailto:ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Sigman,
Brian<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, July 07, 2011 8:16 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Ct-nfb] Legislative Alert from National
Convention<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=5 color="#0000FF"><b>Hi Lucia- I wanted to be sure you
were also aware that the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind
(representing all public VR programs for people who are blind) has also
taken a stance in opposition of the sub-minimum wage language.<br>
<br>
<hr>
<div align="center"></font></div>
<font face="Tahoma" size=2>From:</b> ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org
[<a href="mailto:ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org" eudora="autourl">
mailto:ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of
</b>llee@nfbct.org<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, July 06, 2011 2:52 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> NFB of CT list serve<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Ct-nfb] Legislative Alert from National Convention<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font face="Verdana">Hi all,<br>
<br>
Beth Rival called today from the national convention. She asked that I
re-send this legislative alert. We have received word that the Health,
Education, Labor & Pension (HELP) Committee will be voting on the
Workforce Investment Act next week. The HELP Committee plans to vote to
continue the practice of paying disabled people a subminimum wage as
stated in Section 511 of the Act. This Act does affect people all over
the country, here in CT also. There are disabled people in CT who work
for subminimum wages.Please read the following email from Anil Lewis and
call Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is on the committee, to ask
him to have Section 511 removed. His contact number is on the list
following the email.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd><font face="Verdana" size=2>-----Original Message-----<br>
<dd>From:
<a href="mailto:nfbnet-master-list-bounces@nfbnet.org">
nfbnet-master-list-bounces@nfbnet.org</a><br>
<dd>
[<a href="mailto:nfbnet-master-list-bounces@nfbnet.org" eudora="autourl">
mailto:nfbnet-master-list-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>] On Behalf Of David
Andrews<br>
<dd>Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 12:47 PM<br>
<dd>To:
<a href="mailto:nfbnet-master-list@nfbnet.org">
nfbnet-master-list@nfbnet.org</a><br>
<dd>Subject: [Nfbnet-master-list] Follow Up on Subminimum Wage
Legislative Alert<br><br>
<dd>from Anil Lewis (<br>
<dd><a href="mailto:alewis@nfb.org">alewis@nfb.org</a>)?<br><br>
<br>
<dd>Dear Fellow Federationists,<br><br>
<dd>Michael Barber reports that the NFB of Iowa has sent over seventy
<br>
<dd>letters to Senator Harkin, urging him to remove Section 511 from
Title V <br>
<dd>of the Workforce<br>
<dd>Investment Act (WIA). This bill will be marked up and voted on <br>
<dd>Wednesday, June 29, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. If your senator is on
the <br>
<dd>Senate Committee<br>
<dd>on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP committee), please
<br>
<dd>continue to write and call regarding this issue.<br><br>
<dd>Section 511 reauthorizes payment of subminimum wages to people with
<br>
<dd>disabilities. It is completely contrary to the purpose of the <br>
<dd>Rehabilitation Act, which is intended to promote competitive,
integrated <br>
<dd>employment.<br><br>
<dd>The following list contains the names of members of the HELP
committee. <br>
<dd>If your senator is a member of the committee, please call his/her
office <br>
<dd>to respectfully<br>
<dd>express your adamant objection to linking subminimum wage to the
<br>
<dd>Rehabilitation Act, and to insist that Section 511 of the
Rehabilitation <br>
<dd>Act be removed<br>
<dd>from the bill. If your senator is not a member of the HELP committee,
<br>
<dd>call the committee chair (Senator Tom Harkin) and the ranking member
<br>
<dd>(Senator Michael<br>
<dd>Enzi) to register your objection. Additional background information
on <br>
<dd>Section 511 follows after the HELP committee list.<br>
<br>
<dd>Sincerely,<br><br>
<dd>Anil Lewis<br>
<dd>Director of Strategic Communications<br>
<dd>NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<br>
<dd>Telephone: (410) 659-9314, extension 2374<br>
<dd>E-mail:<br>
<dd><a href="mailto:alewis@nfb.org">alewis@nfb.org</a><br><br>
<dd>table with 3 columns and 23 rows<br>
<dd>Senator<br><br>
<dd>State<br><br>
<dd>Telephone<br><br>
<dd>Senator Lamar Alexander<br><br>
<dd>Tennessee<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-4944<br><br>
<dd>Senator Michael F. Bennet<br><br>
<dd>Colorado<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-5852<br><br>
<dd>Senator Jeff Bingaman<br><br>
<dd>New Mexico<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-5521<br><br>
<dd>Senator Richard Blumenthal<br><br>
<dd>Connecticut<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-2823<br><br>
<dd>Senator Richard Burr<br><br>
<dd>North Carolina<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-3154<br><br>
<dd>Senator Robert Casey, Jr.<br><br>
<dd>Pennsylvania<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-6324<br><br>
<dd>Senator Mike Enzi<br><br>
<dd>Wyoming<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-3424<br><br>
<dd>Senator Al Franken<br><br>
<dd>Minnesota<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-5641<br><br>
<dd>Senator Kay R. Hagan<br><br>
<dd>North Carolina<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-6342<br><br>
<dd>Senator Tom Harkin<br><br>
<dd>Iowa<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-3254<br><br>
<dd>Senator Orrin G. Hatch<br><br>
<dd>Utah<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-5251<br><br>
<dd>Senator Johnny Isakson<br><br>
<dd>Georgia<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-3643<br><br>
<dd>Senator Mark Steven Kirk<br><br>
<dd>Illinois<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-2854<br><br>
<dd>Senator John McCain<br><br>
<dd>Arizona<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-2235<br><br>
<dd>Senator Jeff Merkley<br><br>
<dd>Oregon<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-3753<br><br>
<dd>Senator Barbara A. Mikulski<br><br>
<dd>Maryland<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-4654<br><br>
<dd>Senator Lisa Murkowski<br><br>
<dd>Alaska<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-6665<br><br>
<dd>Senator Patty Murray<br><br>
<dd>Washington<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-2621<br><br>
<dd>Senator Rand Paul<br><br>
<dd>Kentucky<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-4343<br><br>
<dd>Senator Pat Roberts<br><br>
<dd>Kansas<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-4774<br><br>
<dd>Senator Bernard Sanders<br><br>
<dd>Vermont<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-5141<br><br>
<dd>Senator Sheldon Whitehouse<br><br>
<dd>Rhode Island<br><br>
<dd>(202) 224-2921<br>
<dd>table end<br><br>
<br>
<dd>Background:<br><br>
<dd>The key legislation around the recent Subminimum Wage legislative
alert <br>
<dd>is the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), specifically Title V, the
<br>
<dd>Rehabilitation<br>
<dd>Act, which is one of the most important pieces of legislation
affecting <br>
<dd>the lives of people with disabilities. There is no bill number
assigned <br>
<dd>at this<br>
<dd>time, but we have been provided the proposed draft language. On <br>
<dd>Wednesday, June 29, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
<br>
<dd>and Pensions (HELP<br>
<dd>committee) will be marking up the WIA reauthorization. So far, we
have <br>
<dd>been unsuccessful in our efforts to have Section 511 removed from the
<br>
<dd>language.<br><br>
<br>
<dd>As the Senate works to reauthorize the Rehabilitation Act, a new
section <br>
<dd>has been added, Section 511, which links Section 14(c) of the Fair
Labor <br>
<dd>Standards<br>
<dd>Act (FSLA) to the Rehabilitation Act. Section 14(c) of the FLSA is
the <br>
<dd>law that allows employers to pay subminimum wages to their workers
with <br>
<dd>disabilities.<br>
<dd>There are more than 5,000 entities that hold special wage
certificates <br>
<dd>allowing them to pay subminimum wages to more than 400,000 workers
with <br>
<dd>disabilities.<br>
<dd>Section 14(c) is flawed in its implementation, and it has been
plagued <br>
<dd>with abuse of employers paying workers with disabilities even less
than <br>
<dd>the subminimum<br>
<dd>wage they are entitled to receive as a result of this law. The Wage
and <br>
<dd>Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor is charged with the
<br>
<dd>responsibility<br>
<dd>of oversight, but they are only able to investigate 2 percent of the
<br>
<dd>facilities a year. Many workers with disabilities have not been able
to <br>
<dd>collect millions<br>
<dd>of dollars of back wages because the statute of limitations has
passed <br>
<dd>before WHD can identify the violation.<br><br>
<dd>Section 14(c) is simply unenforceable. We have fought against this
<br>
<dd>provision since the founding of our organization, and we have made
<br>
<dd>significant progress.<br>
<dd>Section 511 threatens that progress.<br><br>
<dd>The language found in Section 511 is a restatement of Section 14(c)
of <br>
<dd>the FLSA, linking legislation that is supposed to provide the
training <br>
<dd>and support<br>
<dd>for people with disabilities to obtain competitive employment to
<br>
<dd>legislation that asserts that people with disabilities cannot be
<br>
<dd>competitively employed.<br>
<dd>The philosophies are in direct conflict, and Section 511 sends a
mixed <br>
<dd>message about the purpose of vocational rehabilitation (VR).<br><br>
<dd>Section 511 explains the process a counselor would have to go through
<br>
<dd>before referring a client to a subminimum wage work environment. The
<br>
<dd>intent is to<br>
<dd>make it more difficult for clients to be steered toward subminimum
wage <br>
<dd>employment. Unfortunately, the language opens a door to subminimum
wage <br>
<dd>employment<br>
<dd>that did not previously exist. As a result of Section 511, if VR
fails <br>
<dd>to provide a client with the proper training and support to become
<br>
<dd>competitively<br>
<dd>employed, they will be encouraged to make a referral to a subminimum
<br>
<dd>wage employer.<br><br>
<dd>The language states that, once placed in a subminimum wage work <br>
<dd>environment, the client should receive a review every six months.
<br>
<dd>However, similar to WHD's<br>
<dd>inability to enforce Section 14(c) of the FLSA, it will not be
possible <br>
<dd>for VR to properly enforce this law, leaving even more individuals
stuck <br>
<dd>in subminimum<br>
<dd>wage jobs. A better use of the inadequate funding potentially slated
for <br>
<dd>enforcement of Section 511, and the insufficient funding for WHD to
<br>
<dd>enforce Section<br>
<dd>14(c) would be to develop creative rehabilitation strategies to <br>
<dd>competitively employ all people with disabilities.<br><br>
<dd>Many people have come to believe that subminimum wage employment is
an <br>
<dd>opportunity for people with disabilities to experience the tangible
and <br>
<dd>intangible<br>
<dd>benefits of work. We maintain that there is no benefit, tangible or
<br>
<dd>intangible, to working in an environment that asserts that you are
not <br>
<dd>as good as<br>
<dd>everyone else. Industries have been built on this false perception,
<br>
<dd>allowing people, who otherwise would be able to obtain competitive
<br>
<dd>employment, to<br>
<dd>be exploited at subminimum wages to bolster an employer's
profitability. <br>
<dd>The job market has changed drastically since the initial passage of
this <br>
<dd>outdated<br>
<dd>legislation. With the proper training and support, people with even
the <br>
<dd>most significant disabilities are able to be competitively
employed.<br><br>
<dd>We need to let members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education,
<br>
<dd>Labor, and Pension know that Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act
<br>
<dd>should be removed<br>
<dd>from the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.<br>
<dd>-- </font>
</dl></blockquote></body>
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