We need this on a national level
Frank Ventura
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 21, 2016, at 12:57 PM, joe harcz Comcast
<joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Law would end sub-minimum wages for disabled
By JOSH MAGNESS Capital News Service My Eastern Shore, Maryland
ANNAPOLIS — During Mat Rice’s time as a student at the Maryland School for the
Blind, the disability advocate said he would work at a place openly referred
to as “the workshop.”
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Rice, who has spastic cerebral palsy and is legally blind, said he would crush
cans and shred paper when in the workshop. Each day, he said, he received
a piece rate wage based on the amount of cans and paper he would get through,
earning about 10 cents a piece and “definitely” falling below federal minimum
wage of of $7.25 an hour.
At first, Rice thought the practice was confined solely to the school. But once
Rice started working with disability rights groups, he said, he learned
it was legal for many institutions to pay their workers with disabilities a
sub-minimum wage.
The Minimum Wage and Community Integration Act — a pair of bills that passed
both the Maryland House and Senate with wide, bipartisan majorities — aims
to end that practice.
As of January, 36 in-state organizations were authorized to pay just over 3,600
workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage, according to a legislative
analysis.
The legislation does away with 14(c) certificates, which enable certain
employers and work activities centers to pay their employees with disabilities
based
on productivity instead of at a fixed rate. The two bills also require a worker
with disabilities who is paid a sub-minimum wage and a supervisor to outline
a plan to get a job with non-disabled coworkers.
Ending the confinement of workers with disabilities to their own workplaces is
one reason why the legislation is so important, Rice said.
But the most pressing issue is ensuring employers can no longer pay their
workers with disabilities a sub-minimum wage, which constitutes a civil rights
violation, said Rice, a public policy specialist for People on the Go, an
advocacy group for Marylanders with physical and mental disabilities.
“We have a practice here that singles out people with disabilities,” Rice said,
“and says that because you are judged to be less than productive, then we
can pay you less than any other group of people within the state.”
Starting Oct. 1, 2016, the Maryland commissioner of labor and industry may not
authorize additional work centers to pay their workers a sub-minimum wage.
The legislation tapers off the ability for employers to receive permission to
pay less than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities, but allows
companies
that received a 14(c) certificate before the Oct. 1 deadline to continue paying
sub-minimum wages under certain circumstances for four years.
By Oct. 1, 2017, the Developmental Disabilities Administration and the
Department of Disabilities must submit a plan to the governor and the General
Assembly
outlining the transition away from sub-minimum wages, which becomes final on
Oct. 1, 2020.
The bills also allow those centers that have a certificate granted before 2016
to continue paying their workers below the “prevailing wage” — or the pay
given to a majority of workers in a certain field — after the 2020 deadline, as
long as they keep the certification.
The bill is on the desk of Gov. Larry Hogan, awaiting his signature.
Follow me on Twitter @andrew_stardem.com.
Source:
http://www.myeasternshoremd.com/news/state_regional/article_142d6979-b4c2-5ac4-aac6-b8bcc82d8ebb.html
