[nabs-l] Online Fair Wages Petition

[Lewis, Anil]

All:

The online Fair Wages petition is going better than we anticipated.  We could reach 1,000 signatures today.  Please circulate the following to your networks.

Current labor laws unjustly prohibit workers with disabilities from reaching their full socioeconomic potential

Written in 1938, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) discriminates against people with disabilities, by allowing the Secretary of Labor to grant special wage certificates to employers, permitting them to pay workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage.  Despite enlightened civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, this antiquated provision is still being practiced, with some disabled workers making only 3 cents an hour.

Click here to sign the petition to stop this discrimination<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition>

The twisted merit of the subminimum wage model is that it is a cash cow for the employer. The subminimum wage employers receive taxpayer and philanthropic dollars because the public believes they are providing training and employment for people with disabilities.  Instead, The executives use these substantial proceeds to compensate themselves above industry rates on the backs of disabled workers they pay pennies per hour.  In any other context, people raising their standard of life while significantly limiting the potential of others to fully participate in society would be obvious exploitation.

Click here to sign the petition to stop this exploitation<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition>

The discrimination persists because of the Misconceptions that Section 14(c) is:


*        ...a compassionate offering of meaningful work.  Subminimum wage work is not true employment.  The entities that engage in this practice are not employers. They are "day Custody" centers for people with disabilities, offering days filled only with repetitive drudgery for sometimes third-world wages, leading their workers toward learned incapacity and greater dependence on social programs.


*        ...an employment training tool for disabled workers. Less than 5% of workers with disabilities in subminimum wage workshops will transition into competitive integrated work environments.  In fact, data shows that they must unlearn the skills they acquire in a subminimum wage workshop in order to obtain meaningful employment.  Therefore, Section 14(c) perpetuates on-going underemployment.


*        ...a controversial issue amongst the disability community.  Over 50 disability-related organizations support the repeal of section 14(c) of the FLSA, and many former subminimum wage employers have abandoned the use of the Special Wage Certificate without terminating anyone.  Only those entities profiting on this exploitive practice refuse to acknowledge that it is discrimination.


*        ...a place for those too significantly disabled to go.  Imprisoning workers with disabilities in adult daycare environments keeps them from acquiring the necessary training and opportunity to identify the skills or job that could lead to their competitive, integrated employment at the federal minimum wage or higher.

Click here to sign the petition to stop this discrimination<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition>

Anil

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.
Director of Advocacy and Policy

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
http://www.nfb.org/fairwages
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland   21230
(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)
(410) 685-5653 (FAX)
Email: alewis at nfb.org
Web: www.nfb.org
twitter: @anillife