Some companies pay as little as 22 cents an hour. Reason? People being on SNAP or SSI, or many other excuses…
Let me start this off with the disclaimer that I, personally, am disabled. Therefore, my bias toward a subject like this will probably come out in force.
While the debate within the United States regarding what should be considered acceptable when it comes to minimum wages goes on, there are subsets within that debate that seem to be glossed over, or forgotten.
One of those cases is in regard to how much disabled Americans can be paid at a minimum.
It’s couched within the Fair Labor Standards Act (or FLSA), which puts strictures in place relating to how employers are allowed to pay their workers, depending on that worker’s situation.
As an example, if a young person, still within the education system, is hired at a business, that business is allowed to pay them less than what’s considered “minimum wage,” especially if that student is part of a vocational program. They’re also allowed to pay them less if they work within the retail environment, or agriculture and places of higher education.
It also allows for employers to pay less wages to those whose performance is impacted by physical or mental impairments, including those relating to age or injuries.
In order for a business to pay those workers less, all they need to do is request Certificates from the Department of Labor, which are not that difficult to obtain.
While this part of the FLSA was designed to ensure disabled workers would still be hirable by businesses, giving them further opportunities to work, it seems to me a deeply flawed and unfair practice.
Some organizations, especially charitable, non-profit ones, take extreme advantage of this particular setup. As an example, Goodwill has been shown to pay their disabled employees as little as 22 cents per hour in recompense for the work they do. That wouldn’t even pay for the gas to get the employee to the location, let alone be something to try to live off of.
It all puts into mind the flaws within the system. Businesses already get a lot of tax breaks when it comes to servicing disabled people. The IRS, for instance, has the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, giving employers quite a break when it comes to hiring people within these target demographics.
They also have access to the Disabled Access Credit every year, in which small businesses with less than 30 employees and earning less than $1 million per year can get a non-refundable money drop, if they have accessibility in mind.
According to the IRS page relating to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, they designate businesses can qualify for it for each employee who falls under the following categories:
An employer may claim the WOTC for an individual who is certified as a member of any of the following targeted groups under section 51 of the Code:
the formerly incarcerated or those previously convicted of a felony;
recipients of state assistance under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA);
veterans;
residents in areas designated as empowerment zones or rural renewal counties;
individuals referred to an employer following completion of a rehabilitation plan or program;
individuals whose families are recipients of supplemental nutrition assistance under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008;
recipients of supplemental security income benefits under title XVI of the SSA;
individuals whose families are recipients of state assistance under part A of title IV of the SSA; and
individuals experiencing long-term unemployment.
So, as you can see, there are already things in place that make it “easier” for businesses to hire employees who would otherwise be overlooked. It behooves them to think twice about rejecting that application, because they can, in the end, actually benefit quite a bit from the hire.
Unfortunately, because so many of the aspects of the Minimum Wage debate are being vocalized, the fact this particular part of the debate is lost is saddening to me. There is a need for change within the whole environment, when it comes to what can be considered a “living wage.” However, there are literally people working here and now within what would be classed as near slave-wages, and few seem to talk about it.
Meanwhile, employers take advantage of these tax breaks and Certificates in order to legally - wrongfully? - get away with it.
It is, after all, Federal law, and we all know how much businesses love to follow that to the letter. Right?
So, maybe in the future, as you talk about what changes you’d like to see happen, let’s not forget about the ones who are so deeply impacted by this in the here and now.
Some of us don’t have the voices to say it aloud.
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This is horrifying.
Capitalism naturally encourages people to be absolute monsters. It's a feature not a bug. Fuck the system.