Minority Group: Disabled People

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The nations largest minority group and the only group anyone can become a member of is the group of disabled people. The unemployment rate of people with disabilities is ten times greater than the national unemployment rate. Disabled persons in the workforce are not only underprivileged, but are also discriminated against mentally, physically, and economically. It has been legal to pay less than the federal minimum wage to individuals with disabilities since the pass of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. Section 14(c) of the FLSA has allowed the secretary of labor to grant special wage certificates to employers that provide employment to workers with disabilities, permitting them to pay their disabled absurdly low wages. Hence, excluding individuals with disabilities the protection of the Federal Minimum Wage. In fact, some section 14 (c) workers are paid as little as twenty-two cents per hour – legally. At the time, this law was passed people agreed that disabled workers should be exempt from the minimum wage because they could not provide the same work output. Defenders of section 14 (C) argue that it has created opportunities for the disabled and it is giving them meaningful work. However, the job market has changed significantly today with the use of assistive technology and training, which makes it possible for disabled workers to improve their performance and allows them to work in a wide variety of job tasks.
Supporters of the section 14(c) act state that minimum wage provisions provide employment opportunities. However, there are others who are against this act and question the appropriateness of paying disabled people less than minimum wage. One might question these organizations to whether or not they are us...

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...nd- its-legal
United States General Accounting Office. (2001, September). SPECIAL MINIMUM WAGE PROGRAM: Centers Offer Employment and Support Services to Workers With Disabilities, But Labor Should Improve Oversight. Report to Congressional Requesters. GAO-01-886. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/assets/240/232264.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau, (2012). American fact finder. Retrieved from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
U.S. Department of Labor, (2013a). Add us in. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/DiversityAndInclusion.html
U.S. Department of Labor, (2013b). Building an inclusive workforce. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/20100727.pdf
U.S. Department of Labor, (2013c). Diverse perspectives: People with disabilities fulfilling your business goals. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/diverse.htm

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