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</style><title>Text - H.R.188 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): TIME Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress</title><div class="original-url">Hello. </div><div class="original-url">I've received some questions about the TIME Act, so here's the text of the House bill. It is S 2001 in the Senate. </div><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/188/text">https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/188/text</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: en;">
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<div class="page"><h1 class="title">Text available as:</h1>
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<span>114th CONGRESS</span><br><span>1st Session</span>
</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">H. R. 188</span></p>
<br><p>To phase out special wage certificates under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 under which
individuals with disabilities may be employed at subminimum wage rates.</p>
<hr>
<p><span>IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</span></p>
<div><p>Mr. <span> Harper</span> (for himself and Mr. <span> Bilirakis</span>) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce</p></div>
<hr>
<p><b><span>A BILL</span></b></p>
<p>To phase out special wage certificates under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 under which
individuals with disabilities may be employed at subminimum wage rates.</p>
<div>
<em> Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, </em><p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a> </a>SECTION 1.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span>Short title</span>.</span></p>
<div><p>This Act may be cited as the “Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act ” or “TIME Act”.</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a> </a>SEC. 2. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span>Findings</span>.</span></p>
<div><p>Congress finds the following:</p></div>
<a> </a><p>(1) Current Federal law allows the Secretary of Labor to grant special wage certificates to entities
that provide employment to workers with disabilities, allowing such
entities to pay their disabled workers at rates that are lower than the
Federal minimum wage.</p>
<a> </a><p>(2) The practice of paying workers with disabilities less than the Federal minimum wage dates back to
the 1930s, when there were virtually no employment opportunities for
disabled workers in the mainstream workforce.</p>
<a> </a><p>(3) Today, advancements in vocational rehabilitation, technology, and training provide disabled workers
with greater opportunities than in the past, and the number of such
workers in the national workforce has dramatically increased.</p>
<a> </a><p>(4) Employees with disabilities, when provided the proper rehabilitation services, training, and tools,
can be as productive as nondisabled employees. Even those individuals that
are considered most severely disabled have been able to successfully
obtain employment earning minimum wage or higher.</p>
<a> </a><p>(5) While some employers possessing special wage certificates claim to provide rehabilitation and
training to disabled workers to prepare them for competitive employment,
the fact that such employers can pay their workers less than the Federal
minimum wage gives them an incentive to exploit the cheap labor provided
by their disabled workers rather than to prepare those workers for
integrated employment in the mainstream economy.</p>
<a> </a><p>(6) Many employers with a history of paying subminimum wages benefit from philanthropic donations and
preferred status when bidding on Federal contracts. Yet they claim that
paying minimum wage to their employees with disabilities would result in
lack of profitability and forced reduction of their workforces.</p>
<a> </a><p>(7) Other employers, recognizing that the payment of subminimum wages is in fact exploitation of
disabled workers, are now paying the Federal minimum wage, or higher, to
their employees with disabilities without reducing their workforces, while
still maintaining their profitability. For example, National Industries
for the Blind (NIB) agencies exploited their blind employees for years
through the payment of subminimum wages, claiming they could not maintain
profitability otherwise. Now, “All NIB associated agencies are committed to the NIB Board policy to pay employees, whose only
disability is blindness, at or above the Federal minimum wage or their
state minimum wage, whichever is highest.”.</p>
<a> </a><p>(8) The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor is charged with the responsibility for
oversight of these special wage certificates. The results from thorough
investigations conducted by the Government Accountability Office—“Stronger Federal Efforts Needed for Providing Employment Opportunities and Enforcing Labor
Standards in Sheltered Workshops, Report to the Congress, Comptroller
General of the United States” (HRD–81–99) and “Report to Congressional Requesters, Special Wage Program: Centers Offer Employment and Support
Services to Workers With Disabilities, But Labor Should Improve Oversight” (GAO–01–886)—explain that due to lack of capacity, training, and resources, the Wage and Hour
Division is incapable of enforcing compliance with the subminimum wage
provision. Furthermore, the significant appropriation that would be
required to improve oversight of the regulation would be better spent
improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities.</p>
<a> </a><p>(9) According to the rules established under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,
employers are to determine the special wage to be paid to a disabled
employee through a complicated method that unfairly establishes a
productivity benchmark that would be difficult for anyone to maintain. The
inability of many employers to correctly establish the wage pursuant to
the rule has regularly resulted in disabled employees receiving even less
than the special minimum wage (below the federally established minimum
wage) that they should have received under the regulation.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a> </a>SEC. 3. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span>Transition to fair wages</span>.</span></p>
<a> </a><p>(1) <span>D</span><span>ISCONTINUANCE</span>.—Effective on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall discontinue issuing
special wage certificates under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 (<a href="http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=29§ion=214">29 U.S.C. 214(c)</a>) to any new entities not currently holding a
certificate.</p>
<a> </a><p>(2) <span>T</span><span>RANSITION</span>.—All special wage certificates held on the date of enactment of this Act—<a> </a></p><p>(A) by private for profit entities shall be revoked 1 year after such date of enactment;</p><a> </a><p>(B) by public or governmental entities shall be revoked 2 years after such date of enactment; and</p><a> </a><p>(C) by non-profit entities shall be revoked 3 years after such date of enactment.</p>
<a> </a><p>(3) <span>R</span><span>EPEAL</span>.—Effective 3 years from the date of enactment of this Act, section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 (<a href="http://uscode.house.gov/quicksearch/get.plx?title=29§ion=214">29 U.S.C. 214(c)</a>) is repealed and any remaining special wage
certificates issued under such section shall be revoked.</p>
</div>
<hr>
</div></div></div><div><br><br>Jim McCollum<div>Legislative Co-ordinator</div><div>National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut</div><div><a href="mailto:j.mccollum64@comcast.net">j.mccollum64@comcast.net</a></div><div>860-581-0430</div><div>Sent from my iPhone</div></div></body></html>