[nabs-l] The Subminimum Wage Issue

[Jedi Moerke]

But the difference is that people without disabilities are automatically judged as capable of earning at least the minimum wage. In fact, it is a taken for granted assumption. This taken for granted assumption does not apply to people disabilities.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 2, 2014, at 11:51 PM, Michael Forzano <michaeldforzano at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Arielle,
> 
> At any job, whether you have a disability or not, your wages depend on
> your performance. Of course, if you're earning minimum wage, and
> aren't subject to the subminimum wage exception, you get fired if you
> underperform for a long enough time. So no, employees being paid
> subminimum wage are not the only ones being judged based on their
> performance.
> 
> I do agree you have a point about parents'/guardians discouraging
> people from doing what they might be capable of, making them think
> subminimum wage jobs are their only option when that might not be the
> case. But that problem stretches way beyond minimum wage. I think it
> is the reason many blind people don't apply for jobs at all. The NFB
> should focus on trying to solve that problem as a whole, rather than
> fixating on this issue that affects only a tiny percentage of people.
> 
> I'd be interested to hear about the Harvard law student who was once
> paid subminimum wage. I can't help wondering why he chose to stay at
> that job, since he clearly knows what he is capable of if he is at
> Harvard.
> 
> Overall, my point is that the subminimum wage program is designed for
> people who actually can't perform a minimum wage job. Apparently some
> high-functioning blind people ended up in these jobs, whether it was
> because they were discouraged by their parents or some other reason.
> That just means they were incorrectly put into the program, not that
> the program doesn't serve a purpose. Again, it might be the only
> option for severely disabled people other than sitting at home for the
> rest of their lives.
> 
> Mike
> 
>> On 4/2/14, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Everyone has the right to make minimum wage; while I understand your
>> viewpoint of the employers possibly laying off those workers, noone, and I
>> mean noone  should be forced to work for subminimum wage.  It simply is not
>> fare, and it will be corrected.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michael
>> Forzano
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 10:01 PM
>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [nabs-l] The Subminimum Wage Issue
>> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I've been hearing a lot about the subminimum wage issue that the NFB is
>> involved in, and the NFB's position honestly doesn't make sense to me.
>> 
>> My understanding is that the people being paid subminimum wages have
>> disabilities in addition to blindness that prevent them from doing the job
>> as productively as someone being paid minimum wage, such as cerebral palsy.
>> If subminimum wages are eliminated, it seems pretty clear to me that the
>> employers would lay off the people in question.
>> After all, if you suddenly have to pay an employee hundreds of times more
>> than you were paying them for the same amount of work/productivity, I don't
>> think you'd have much choice.
>> 
>> People being paid suvminimum wage are likely in that situation because they
>> have no other choice, that is, their disabilities prevent them from working
>> even a minimum wage job. If the NFB succeeds, these people will likely have
>> no job at all and be forced to spend their lives sitting at home on SSI.
>> How
>> is that helping them? at least right now, they have a job, something to
>> keep
>> them busy.
>> 
>> I'm curious to see how the NFB is arguing against this because it seems
>> pretty clear to me from a business perspective. As much as the employers
>> may
>> want to continue to employ these people it just won't make sense.
>> 
>> Mike
>> 
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