Subminimum Wage Changes Catch States ‘Flat-Footed’
After years of deliberation, state workforce regulators in Minnesota and across the nation are preparing to enforce tough new limits on paying people with disabilities less than the minimum wage, a practice that has long been decried by civil rights advocates as discriminatory.
More than 15,000 people with disabilities in Minnesota alone work for employers who take advantage of a loophole in federal labor law that allows them to pay below the minimum wage, often in cloistered workplaces known as sheltered workshops.
Now, these employers must satisfy a series of new federal rules before paying these workers less than the minimum wage. Under the rules, which took effect late in July, individuals with disabilities who are younger than 24 must go through an assessment process before they are eligible for a job at less than the minimum wage at a sheltered workshop or similar workplace. Those who already work for subminimum wages must be provided with regular career counseling and information about more integrated work options in the community.
