[Ohio-talk] Disability Rights Ohio and Other Advocates File Complaint on Behalf of Sheltered Workshop Employees

[Jordy Stringer]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Stacy Brannan-Smith

Communications Specialist          

Disability Rights Ohio                      

800-282-9181, ext. 101

sbrannan-smith at disabilityrightsohio.org

               John G. Paré, Jr.

Executive Director for Advocacy and Policy

National Federation of the Blind

410-659-9314, ext. 2218

410-917-1965 (cell)

jpare at nfb.org

Samantha Crane, J.D.

Legal Director, Director of Public Policy

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

202-509-0135

scrane at autisticadvocacy.org

Disability Rights Ohio and Other Advocates File Complaint on Behalf of
Sheltered Workshop Employees 

November 19, 2015

COLUMBUS, OHIO – After working for an average of $2.50 an hour for more than
three years, three Disability Rights Ohio (DRO) clients are asking for fair
pay from Seneca Re-Ads, a sheltered workshop run by the County Board of
Developmental Disabilities in Seneca County. The employees’ work duties
include cutting and assembling samples for flooring company Roppe
Industries, a private corporation. Through a novel and potentially
precedent-setting procedure, the three DRO clients have asked the U.S.
Department of Labor (USDOL) to review their claims. The petition, which is
supported by the National Federation of the Blind, the Autistic Self
Advocacy Network, and the Baltimore law firm of Brown, Goldstein & Levy,
LLP, requests that USDOL review the clients’ wages and the means by which
the current wages were set.

Since the 1930s, federal law has permitted employers to pay workers with
disabilities less than minimum wage, but only if the lower wage is necessary
to ensure employment opportunities, and on the condition that each worker is
paid a wage commensurate with his or her productivity as compared to workers
without disabilities. The law contains a little-known provision allowing
workers with disabilities to petition the USDOL for an administrative review
of their wages in an expedited process.  

Joe Magers, Pam Steward, and Mark Felton are among the first workers with
disabilities ever to utilize the petition process to seek a review of their
wages by the USDOL. They believe that their disabilities, which include
visual impairments and autism, do not impair their workplace productivity,
and that Seneca Re-Ads’ method of calculating wages fails to fairly measure
their productivity or take into account the prevailing wage for similar
highly skilled production work in the community. Magers, Steward, and Felton
are also seeking compensation for unpaid hours of work in which they were
required to attend mandatory staff meetings and safety trainings.

“Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the workshop is permitted to pay less
than minimum wage but only if the workshop follows the procedures laid out
in the law, which wasn’t done here,” said Barbara Corner, attorney and
Employment Team Leader for DRO. “Our clients’ disabilities do not preclude
them from working hard and even using heavy machinery, and they deserve and
want the opportunity to earn as much as workers without disabilities.”

"Sheltered workshops often make self-fulfilling prophesies that people with
developmental disabilities simply can't be as productive as people without
disabilities,” adds Samantha Crane, Legal Director for the Autistic Self
Advocacy Network. “Our clients haven't been given the chance they need to
earn even a minimally decent wage. They deserve the same basic protections
that many people without disabilities take for granted." 

With the filing of this petition, USDOL has 40 days to assign an
administrative law judge and hold a hearing. At the hearing, Seneca Re-Ad
must prove that it followed the rules and paid an appropriate wage, and if
the administrative law judge finds that Seneca Re-Ad failed to comply with
its legal obligations, the workers must be paid minimum wage for their
labor.

Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said,
“This case demonstrates the fundamentally arbitrary manner in which wages
for workers with disabilities are set by many entities that hold 14(c)
certificates, and how this antiquated, discriminatory employment model,
based on false assumptions and low expectations, relegates these workers to
second-class status. We hope that the Department of Labor acts swiftly to
correct the injustice that is being perpetrated upon these workers.”

---

About Disability Rights Ohio: Disability Rights Ohio is the federally and
state designated Protection and Advocacy System and Client Assistance
Program for the state of Ohio. The mission of Disability Rights Ohio is to
advocate for the human, civil and legal rights of people with disabilities
in Ohio. Disability Rights Ohio provides legal advocacy and rights
protection to a wide range of people with disabilities.

About the National Federation of the Blind: 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.

About the Autistic Self Advocacy Network: The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
(ASAN) is a national, private, nonprofit organization, run by and for
individuals on the autism spectrum. ASAN provides public education and
promotes public policies that benefit autistic individuals and others with
developmental or other disabilities. Its advocacy activities include
combating stigma, discrimination, and violence against autistic people and
others with disabilities; promoting access to employment, health care and
long-term supports in integrated community settings; and educating the
public about the access needs of autistic people. ASAN takes a strong
interest in cases that affect the rights of autistic individuals to
participate fully in community life and enjoy the same rights as others
without disabilities.

 

Jordy D. Stringer, Treasurer, Blind Vision United

Phone: 317-629-4639

E-mail: jordystringer83 at gmail.com

"A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from
them, and strong enough to correct them." John C. Maxwell

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 bac.