For more than 70 years, the Fair Labor Standards Act has allowed employers to pay some workers with physical or mental impairments less than the federal minimum wage. H.R. 3086, introduced by Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) and Gregg Harper (R-Mo.) earlier this fall, would change that.
HR 3086 would phase out special wage certificates under the FLSA, thus requiring sheltered workshop employees to be paid at least the federal minimum wage.
There is no consensus on whether the current FLSA exemption provides opportunities to individuals who would otherwise not have a chance to contribute and earn, or if the special wage provision is exploitive.
Several congressional reports have criticized the U.S. Department of Labor’s oversight of sheltered workshop.
The bill’s sponsors maintain that “the significant appropriation” that would be required to improve oversight of sheltered workshops would be better spent improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
Washington, D.C. employment attorney Paul DeCamp of Jackson Lewis, LLP, a former U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour administrator, called the bill unnecessary, given the “extensive procedures” involved to make sure that individuals’ working capacity is being fairly and accurately evaluated.
“Most commonly, we are talking about facilities that provide what amounts to day care for mentally impaired adults,” DeCamp said.