Because of a 75 year old section of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, companies that use sheltered workshops to train workers with disabilities, such as Goodwill Industries, can legally pay their employees just pennies an hour. The section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that legalizes this behavior needs to be repealed in order to ensure fair pay and treatment of every employee in today’s workforce. To begin, I will explain the use of sheltered workshops and the timed tests used to determine subminimum wages for employees with disabilities. I will then go on to discuss the history of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and how companies use a section of the legislation to get away with paying their employees with disabilities so little. And finally I will discuss the ethics behind the use of this piece of legislation and also provide a counter argument which supports subminimum wages. Employees who earn subminimum wages usually are employed to work in sheltered workshops. Sheltered workshops are typically set up in the back room of a business. Employee duties in sheltered workshops frequently consist of performing simple repetitive tasks, such as sorting and hanging up donated clothing items. Sheltered workshops were initially intended to provide people with disabilities the vocational training needed to work in a competitive job setting. However, today people working in sheltered workshops are usually stuck here for years—still just earing pennies per hour. Subminimum wages are determined by how fast the employee with a disability can perform a task compared to a person without a disability. For example, the employee may be timed to see how many article of clothing he or she can hang in one minute with a limite... ... middle of paper ... ...that paying workers with disabilities a subminimum wage is completely legal for businesses to do if issued a certificate from the federal government, but we come to the question: just because it is legal is it the right thing to do? Justin Salsbury, an employee at Goodwill Industries in Madison, Wisconsin states, “We want everyone to understand that there is something happening at Goodwill that is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral.” Representative Gregg Harper, who proposed the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, told NBC News that “Meaningful work deserves fair pay.” Some go as far as to label subminimum wages as the exploitation of people with disabilities. Ari Ne'eman, president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network states, "People are profiting from exploiting disabled workers. It is clearly and unquestionably exploitation." (NBC News).
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most significant laws in American History. Before the ADA was passed, employers were able to deny employment to a disabled worker, simply because he or she was disabled. With no other reason other than the person's physical disability, they were turned away or released from a job. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The act guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA not only opened the door for millions of Americans to get back into the workplace, it paved the road for new facilities in the workplace, new training programs, and created jobs designed for a disabled society (Frierson, 1990). This paper will discuss disabilities covered by the ADA, reasonable accommodations employers must take to accommodate individuals with disabilities, and the actions employers can take when considering applicants who have disabilities.
The ADA prohibits employer discrimination against qualified individuals with a disability in regard to application procedures, hiring and firing, promotions, pay, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment (Hernandez, 2001). This applies to the entire range of employer-employee relationships, including testing, work assignments, discipline, leave, benefits, and lay-offs. In addition, the ADA prohibits retaliation against individuals w...
Most afflicted adults were stored away in the back rooms of houses, and children with mental disabilities were given up into adoption or aborted. In addition, Hahn reiterates that legislative polices have pronounced people with disabilities as unfit for society, unable to be hired to do work. People with disabilities are in no way “unemployed” because they can not do work. Hahn’s article, “Disability and the Urban Environment: A Perspective on Los Angeles,” which was published in 1986 is outdated, and the thoughts should be reconsidered. In the Disability and Discrimination Act of 1995 and 2005, it lays out policies that ban employers from discriminating against disabled people, when hiring (The Disability and Discrimination Act). It aims to ensure equal opportunity and a level of fairness in the workplace. Since 1986, the social structure of society has adapted and evolved over time. Nondisabled people are more liberal, and they are accepting; however, there still remains a level of discrimination. Even though they are more aware of the inequalities that exist today, people look down on the disabled population. As a society we need to make drastic improvements, in terms of attitudes. Disability should be viewed in a positive light: instead of a burden, disabled people should be part of the community. Disabled people should not have to deal with the social stigma of being different; it is part of what makes them stronger and more will
Those who earn the least amount are required to contribute the least amount for services to be rendered, keeping the income gap closer than it would be otherwise.
The subminimum wage model fails to provide adequate training or employment to disabled workers. Data shows that less than five percent of the four-hundred thousand workers with disabilities in segregated subminimum wage workshops will transition into competitive integrated work. Moreover, research shows that the subminimum wage model costs more but actually produces less! In fact, workers must unlearn the useless skills they acquire in order to obtain meaningful employment. It is poor policy to reward such failed programs with wage exemptions, preferential federal contracts, and public and charitable contributions. In fact, disabled persons should be treat with maximum of efficiency. They didn't choose to be what they are; so, congress or
Moran, John Jude. "Disability Discrimination." Employment Law: New Challenges in the Business Environment. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2014. 413-14. Print.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that was signed into law by George H. W. Bush is one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation dealing with civil rights today. It was instrumental in protecting the rights of the mentally and physically disabled. The law has made many contributions to America as a country and helped it enter the modern world as a socially diverse nation. It was amended in 2008 by George W. Bush, who continued the work of his father in protecting disabled peoples rights. The specific company that will be the focus of the paper is Stater Bros. Markets. Stater Bros. is the premier supermarket in Southern California and does 3.9 billion in sales annually. The paper will also analyze how this legislation has affected the country and businesses as a whole.
In addition, it offers individuals with disabilities guidance with integrated employment. At the same time, WIOA has been harmful to person’s with disabilities because it has played a role in dynamics of oppression and has not done enough to make certain individuals who are considered “sheltered” are offered equal employment and equal compensation. I have learned if you are not a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem and WIOA can do more to make certain justice is served and more equality is exercised. Moreover, we can all combine our efforts to advocate and get involved with organizations that are committed to assisting WIOA in improving its organization for all job seekers, workers, and
The act presents disabled workers with a catch 22: it places disabled workers into two categories; the worker is either too disabled to be working at all, or they are not af...
The current U.S. federal minimum wage for untipped workers is currently $7.25 an hour, as it has been since 2009. At this rate, a full time employee would earn an annual salary of $15,080, meaning that a family of two people, for example a single working mother with one child, working a full time minimum wage job, would sit below the federal poverty line of $15,730 for two people (2014 Poverty Guidelines). While it is true that there are tax breaks such as those for children, and the Earned Income Tax that exist to help such people living in poverty, the fact exists that the wages in the US have not kept up with inflation and the cost of living. While the value of the federal minimum wage has risen 21% since 1990, the cost of living itself has risen 67% (Gilson). Opponents are quick to argue that only unskilled workers are paid minimum wag...
United States. National Equal Pay Taskforce. Assessing the Past, Taking Stock of the Future. Washington: GPO, 2013. PDF file.
If everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedom that is set forth in the Declaration, disabled people should not be robbed of their rights. However, they are still devalued from conducting common tasks which puts them at the bottom of the priority list as an employee and even so as a friend. In search to solve this problem, according to “The Disabled” by Bender, D. on July 26, 1990, President G...
Though minimum wage is designed to help those who are impoverished, a majority of those in poverty do not work minimum wage jobs. A...
Every day in America, a woman loses a job to a man, a homosexual high school student suffers from harassment, and someone with a physical or mental disability is looked down upon. People with disabilities make up the world’s largest and most disadvantaged minority, with about 56.7 million people living with disabilities in the United States today (Barlow). In every region of the country, people with disabilities often live on the margins of society, deprived from some of life’s fundamental experiences. They have little hope of inclusion within education, getting a job, or having their own home (Cox). Everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed in life, but discrimination is limiting opportunities and treating people badly because of their disability. Whether born from ignorance, fear, misunderstanding, or hate, society’s attitudes limit people from experiencing and appreciating the full potential a person with a disability can achieve. This treatment is unfair, unnecessary, and against the law (Purdie). Discrimination against people with disabilities is one of the greatest social injustices in the country today. Essential changes are needed in society’s basic outlook in order for people with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to succeed in life.
Work plays an important role in our daily life, it is considered much more huge part of our personal life. During our daily work we make many relationships throughout our career history. Sometimes these relationships become lasting, and sometimes employment discrimination might happen. This relationships that we thought it last could be cut off by the devastation of claims of discriminatory treatment. Discrimination in the workforce has been an issue since the first people of workers in United States in the present day and as well in the past. Some employees were subjected to a harsh working conditions, verbal abuse, denial of advancement,, and many other injustices. There was also the fact that certain employees were being treated differently than other employees.