[il-talk] Her it is

[Edwin]

September 30, 2011

 

Dr. Marc Mauer

President

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland   21230

 

Open Letter to All Community Service Providers Holding a Special Wage
Certificate:

 

The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired
supports phasing out the use of the Special "Subminimum" Wage provision
found in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Society has
underestimated the vocational capacity of people with disabilities for far
too long.  We must shift the paradigm, from one that assumes that people
with disabilities cannot perform job tasks competitively, to one that
recognizes that, with the proper training, opportunity, and support, even
people with the most significant disabilities can be competitively employed,
contributing to an employer's profits and adding value to the American
economy.  Join with us to end the misguided discrimination against workers
with disabilities.  

 

As a service provider, the Chicago Lighthouse has worked for the past 105
years to provide quality rehabilitation services to enhance the quality of
life of our clients.  Last year we served approximately 65,000 blind and
visually impaired children and adults through our 28 programs and services.
One of our core goals is to ensure that each individual receives the proper
training and opportunity to be competitively employed.  Through the
employment of innovative rehabilitation strategies and adaptive technology,
we empower blind and visually impaired individuals with the skills to
obtain, maintain, and remain in gainful employment.  We recognize that work
not only provides a source of income, but also promotes independence and
self-worth, and affords individuals the opportunity to exercise
self-determination.  

 

We strive to serve as a role model for other companies in how they should
treat their employees with disabilities.  We are committed to hiring people
with disabilities throughout our organization, not just in our industries
program for workers with disabilities.  We offer all of our full-time
employees (with and without disabilities) a 25 percent benefits package,
which includes health insurance, pension, vacation, etc.  For clients who
find that jobs at our facility are not a good fit for them, we offer a
variety of job placement services that assist individuals with obtaining
service-related, administrative, and executive positions throughout the
community that match their skills and abilities.  

 

The federal and state funding we receive helps us to provide core services
to our clients, but we engage in fundraising and development efforts to
leverage our public funding so that we can maintain a quality facility with
quality services that value each employee and customer.  We refuse to depend
on the employment of people with disabilities at subminimum wages to
maintain our profitability.

 

Although we have maintained a special wage certificate for many years, it
has been a routine administrative process rather than a statement of
practice.  For over 30 years, The Chicago Lighthouse has guaranteed all of
its employees at least the U. S. minimum wage, and for approximately 25
years, The Chicago Lighthouse has guaranteed all of its employee's wages
greater than the U. S. minimum wage. It is our intention to inform the
Department of Labor that we have no further need of our current certificate
to pay subminimum wages, and we will no longer seek renewal of the
certificate.  We firmly believe in fairly compensating our employees for
their hard work, and we do not have, and will never have, any employee
making less than the minimum wage.  We hope that other community
rehabilitation service facilities will adopt a similar business model that
values their employees by paying them the federal minimum wage or higher.  

 

We fully support the Resolution Regarding Fair Wages for People with
Disabilities (Resolution 2011-09) passed at this year's convention of the
National Federation of the Blind, and we urge Congress to pass legislation
to phase out Section 14(c) of the FLSA.  We intend to surrender immediately
our current 14(c) certificate, and we encourage other community service
providers to do the same.  

 

Sincerely,

 

C:\Users\jstieghorst\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.Outlook\5UXOCMW2\Janet-Signature-Phd.png

 

Janet Szlyk, PhD

President/Executive Director

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: att679a4.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 8166 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/il-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130822/47150721/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: att679a5.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2027 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/il-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130822/47150721/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: att679b6.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 10701 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/il-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130822/47150721/attachment-0002.jpg>