[nfbwatlk] NDRN, DOL team up to tackle subminimum wage certificate enforcement, Rooted in Rights Report, December 19 2015

[Mary ellen]

I'm very glad for this initiative, provided the data gathered is used to
point out the discriminatory basis of 14C.  If what follows is the belief
that, well, now we've cleaned up enforcement so the law is fine, then we may
not gain very much.  It's a good interim step, but far better to repeal 14C
altogether.

 

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Subject: [nfbwatlk] NDRN, DOL team up to tackle subminimum wage certificate
enforcement, Rooted in Rights Report, December 19 2015


Link:
http://www.rootedinrights.org/ndrn-dol-team-up-to-tackle-subminimum-wage-cer
tificate-enforcement/

Text:
Rooted in Rights Report
NDRN, DOL team up to tackle subminimum wage certificate enforcement Andy
Jones | Saturday, December 19, 2015

Pictured:  Curt Decker, CEO of NDRN

The National Disability Rights Network and the Department of Labor announced
a new agreement December 16, which aims to prevent employers from exploiting
an exception in federal labor law that allows them to pay certain workers
subminimum wages.

"NDRN is pleased to enter into this agreement with the Wage and Hour
Division to achieve our joint goal of protecting the rights of workers with
disabilities," NDRN Executive Director Curt Decker said in a news release.
"NDRN believes that by utilizing the resources, expertise, and federal
mandate of the (protection and advocacy) system to protect and advocate for
the rights of individuals with disabilities, employers who fail to adhere to
the requirements of the section 14(c) certificates will be more readily
discovered."

Pursuant to Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers may
obtain special wage certificates, allowing them to pay certain workers with
disabilities less than the minimum wage. These employers are subject to a
variety of requirements. Specifically, they must demonstrate that their
employee's disabilities limit their ability to perform assigned tasks and
provide an objective measurement of their salary, among other caveats.

Although the law was originally enacted to assist people deemed unemployable
due to their disabilities, it widely viewed as exploitative by disability
rights advocates. In some cases, these businesses, known by their critics as
"sheltered workshops," have been found to abuse workers, steal Social
Security disability checks, and refuse to pay overtime, most notably in the
case of the Iowa-based Henry's Turkey Services.

For years, NDRN, the umbrella organization for the nation's federally
mandated, state-level protection and advocacy agencies, has made the task of
monitoring these subminimum wage certificates a top priority. It released
its influential "Segregated and Exploited" report of sheltered workshops in
2011, followed by an updated report the next year.

In 2014, it launched a Wage and Hour Complaint Initiative, encouraging P&As
to file complaints with the DOL against exploitative employers. Disability
Rights Oregon has since reached a settlement to reform Oregon's sheltered
workshops and Disability Rights Ohio petitioned the DOL to review a local
county's certificate, among other efforts.

Under the new agreement, NDRN and DOL have agreed to collaborate to crack
down on potentially exploitative employers.

Specifically, they seek to improve their sharing of information and to
exchange information about laws, regulations and other essential information
for protecting employees working at subminimum wages.

Disability Rights Washington, the publisher of Rooted in Rights, is the
designated protection and advocacy agency in Washington, and a member of the
National Disability Rights Network.

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