[Nfbmt] NFB Resolution 2015-04 Regarding Support for the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act

[bruce&Joy Breslauer]

Resolution 2015-04

Regarding Support for the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful
Employment Act

WHEREAS, Congressman Gregg Harper introduced the Transitioning to Integrated
and Meaningful Employment (TIME) Act (H.R. 188) on January 7, 2015; and

WHEREAS, the TIME Act has the same goal as the Fair Wages for Workers with
Disabilities Act, which was introduced in the previous two congresses,
namely to phase out the use of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act; and

WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has passed two resolutions
that support the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act, Resolution
2013-02 Regarding Ending Subminimum Wage Payments to Workers with
Disabilities and Resolution 2012-01 Regarding Support for the Fair Wages for
Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011, affirming our long-held goal to
repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act and to end the practice
of paying people with disabilities subminimum wages; and

WHEREAS, as demonstrated by the states of Vermont, which has no entities
that hold Section 14(c) certificates, and New Hampshire, which on May 7,
2015, signed a bill into law prohibiting entities from paying individuals
with disabilities less than the minimum wage, special wage certificates are
no longer needed; and

WHEREAS, over eighty organizations support the repeal of Section 14(c) of
the Fair Labor Standards Act, further illustrating the growing trend against
this discriminatory practice: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this ninth day of July, 2015, in the city of Orlando, Florida,
that this organization commend Congressman Gregg Harper and all cosponsors
of H.R. 188, the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act,
for continuing to shepherd this legislation through this Congress and for
having the courage to support a bill that will ensure that Americans with
disabilities have access to integrated and meaningful employment
opportunities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the Education and
Workforce Committee of the US House of Representatives to conduct an
immediate hearing on H.R. 188 in order to facilitate informed debate and to
learn the truth about the employment capacity of people with disabilities;
and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon the US Senate to
introduce companion legislation to H.R. 188 immediately; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call for the immediate passage
of the TIME Act by the US Congress and for the President of the United
States to sign it into law.

 

Since then, on August 5, 2015, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) introduced the
Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment (TIME) Act (S. 2001)
in the United States Senate. Senator Ayotte introduced this legislation to
repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, in order to
incentivize the transitioning of workers with disabilities into integrated,
meaningful employment, and to phase out the discriminatory practice of
paying workers with disabilities pennies per hour. So what we do makes a
difference.

 

Joy Breslauer, President

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

Email: president at nfbofmt.org

Web Site: www.nfbofmt.org

 

Live the life you want 

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.