[Nfbmd] Calling Senator Mikulski

Mon Jun 27 02:06:58 UTC 2011

Millie:

I hope the following helps clarify the issue.  i will be sending out an update soon.  Plese contact me if you have any questions.

Section 14(c) of the FLSA is the law that allows employers of people with disabilities to pay their workers with disabilities subminimum wages.  There are over 5,000 entities that hold Special Wage Certificates allowing them to pay over 400,000 workers with disabilities subminimum wages.  Section 14(c) is flawed in its implementation, and it has been plagued with abuse of employers paying workers with disabilities even less than the subminimum wage they are entitled to pay as a result of this law.  The Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is charge with the responsibility of oversight, but they are only able to investigate 2% of the facilities a year.  Many workers with disabilities have not been able to collect millions of dollars of back wages because the statute of limitations has passed before WHD can identify the violation.  Section 14(c) is simply unenforceable.  We have fought against this provision since the founding of our organization, and we have made significant progress.  Section 511 threatens that progress.

The language found in Section 511 is a restatement of Section 14(c) of the FLSA.  Linking legislation that is suppose to provide the training and support for people with disabilities to obtain competitive employment to legislation that asserts that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed.  The philosophies are in direct conflict, and Section 511 sends a mixed message about the purpose of Vocational Rehabilitation.  Section 511 is a failure clause, and we cannot afford to fail.  We need to let members of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pension (HELP) committee know that Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act should be removed from the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.

Anil

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.
Director of Strategic Communications

"Blind Man Driving"

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<mailto:alewis at nfb.org>
Web: www.nfb.org<http://www.nfb.org>

From: nfbmd-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmd-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Millie Rivera-Rau
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 4:41 PM
To: NFB of Maryland e-mail list
Subject: Re: [Nfbmd] Calling Senator Mikulski

Sharon, What exactly should I tell her staff? THe e-mail was a bit confusing to me.

Have an AWESOME day !!! :), Millie
From: NFBMD <nfbmd at earthlink.net>
To: Maryland List <nfbmd at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 10:13 AM
Subject: [Nfbmd] Calling Senator Mikulski
Hello All,
Did you call Senator Mikulski yet??
If not, please do so on Monday June 27.   Be sure to give your name and address.

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
Maryland
(202) 224-4654
This is very important, read Anil’s message below.

Thanks,
Sharon Maneki

Dear Fellow Federationists:

I am writing to inform you that a principle tenet of our organization is being threatened.  We are actively developing legislation that will work toward the repeal of Regulation 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Meanwhile, the proposed language in Title V of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization, specifically Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act, threatens to send us backward in our struggle for full participation and competitive employment at competitive wages.

Most of us are aware that in 1938, when every other employee in America was being guaranteed the workforce protection of a federal minimum wage through the passage of the FLSA, Section 14(c) of this act denied the blind and other workers with disabilities this same protection by allowing for the payment of subminimum wages.  Since our founding in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind has fought against the erroneous misconception that blind people cannot be productive employees, and we have made significant strides toward a correct understanding of the true capacity of the blind.  Contrarily, the proposed language found in Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act is a tacit endorsement of Section 14(c) of the FLSA and its antiquated contention that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed.

If passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, language in Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act will create a link between the Rehabilitation Act and Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act that has never before existed.  This will create legislation with a conflict between the philosophy of capacity for competitive employment set by the Rehabilitation Act, and the philosophy of incapacity toward subminimum wages set by Section 14(c) of the FLSA, setting the stage for more workers with disabilities to be inappropriately steered toward sheltered employment and a life of low expectations rewarded with subminimum wages.

The following list contains the names of members of the Senate HELP committee.  If your Senator is a member of the committee, please call his/her office to respectfully express your adamant objection to linking subminimum wage to the Rehabilitation Act, and to insist that Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act be removed from the bill.  If your Senator is not a member of the HELP committee, call the committee chair (Senator Tom Harkin) and the ranking member (Senator Michael Enzi) to register your objection.

Please share this information with friends and family and encourage them to assist us with this effort.  Please call or e-mail me with any questions, and to keep me posted on your progress.

cv

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