[Nfbmt] A ridiculous Question

[James Aldrich]

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A Ridiculous Question


A Ridiculous Question

Submitted by alewis on Thu, 01/02/2014 - 11:32

Blog Date:

Thursday, January 2, 2014

By Anil Lewis

https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/ridiculous-question





So you go to work tomorrow, and it is pay day. You receive a paycheck 
for $15.00 for two weeks of work. You speak to your supervisor, and you 
are informed that the company has switched to a new payroll model based 
on a new law, Section D (9) (u), that calculates wages based on a new 
commensurate wage formula. This new formula is only used to calculate 
the wages paid to you and others like you. Although you are as 
productive as the other employees, no one else but you and others like 
you are subjected to this new wage formula, especially not management 
or the company executives. In fact, the executives are now receiving 
six-figure salaries as a result of the cost savings created by the new 
wage structure for workers like you. You complain, to no avail. 
Managers attempt to convince you that this new structure still offers 
you the ability to receive the tangible and intangible benefits of 
work. After all, it is not about the money, it is about fulfillment.

This is not acceptable to you, so you seek vocational training that 
allows you to be a more productive employee. You go to a section 
D(9)(u) vocational training program that claims to be the best training 
program for people like you. This community training program is 
operated in a sheltered, segregated environment comprised of other 
people like you. The program assists you in developing the work and 
interpersonal skills necessary to be a competitive employee. They focus 
on teaching you real-world job skills like how to fold letters, stuff 
envelopes, sort hangers, hang clothes, and screw caps on pens. Although 
none of these tasks match your unique skills, talents, abilities or 
interests, it is what the training program has to offer. If there are 
no letters to be folded, envelopes to be stuffed, hangers to be sorted, 
or pens to be capped, the program offers you the opportunity to play 
video games, play cards, read books, or sleep.

The section D(9)(u) program costs more than other conventional training 
programs, but it is subsidized with public funds and operates as a 
charitable 501(c)(3) organization. The program has a competitive 
employment placement rate of less than 5 percent and therefore, most of 
the workers spend their entire vocational existence in this “training” 
program. Even though the program has no measureable positive impact on 
improving the employment of people like you, the marketing team is 
successful in their efforts of convincing public policy makers and 
philanthropic funding sources to feel that this is the best employment 
strategy for people like you.

It is obvious that this new policy is denying you the opportunity to 
reach your full vocational potential, while endorsing incompetent 
training programs and substandard employers. You want this policy 
repealed and you want the same workplace and wage protections as every 
other employee.

Okay, there is no Section D(9)(u) that exempts you from receiving equal 
wage protections, but there is a Section 14(c ) of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act (FLSA) that exempts people like me from being guaranteed 
the federal minimum wage. So my question is, “Why is this type of 
discriminatory policy not so ridiculous when it applies to people like me?”

For more information, visit http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages.





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



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