[nfb-talk] reason to get rid of 14(c) status

[Sherri]

Let's all get behind removing the 14(c) status from the fair labor standards 
act. Here are some reasons provided to me by Anil Lewis. Thanks much Anil.

The 33% subminimum wage vocational goal finding was from data obtained from 
a longitudinal survey and presented during a presentation at the 2011 TASH 
conference in Atlanta by Butterworth of the Institute for Community 
Inclusion (ICI).



The following is additional data related to the negative consequences from 
the use of Section 14(c )



  a.. Approximately 33% of students in K thru 12 have sheltered subminimum 
wage workshops as their vocational goal.  We have given up on them before 
they have been provided a proper education and they will never reach their 
full potential. A generation lost.(Butterworth)


  a.. Approximately 95% of people employed in a subminimum wage work 
environment will never transition out of that environment.  They will never 
receive the necessary training and support to be productive employees.  They 
will remain beneficiaries of public programs, never to become fully 
participating citizens. (GAO Report)


  a.. Approximately 50% of workers with disabilities employed under a 
Special Wage certificate earn less than half the federal minimum wage.  They 
are paid, supposedly based on their productivity, in menial jobs determined 
by their employer, not jobs that meet their strengths, interests, unique 
talents or abilities. (GAO Report)


  a.. Approximately 25% of workers with disabilities employed under a 
Special Wage certificate earn less than $1 per hour.  (We have documentation 
of a worker with a disability being paid 3 cents per hour.)  This is an 
assertion, day after day, that they are not as good as everyone else. (GAO 
Report)


  a.. Research shows that many of the skills acquired in a sheltered 
subminimum wage work environment must be unlearned in order for a worker 
with a disability to obtain competitive integrated employment.(Cimera)




Sherri Brun
flmom2006 at gmail.com