For Immediate Release: December 3, 2024
Contact: Jess Davidson, jdavidson@aapd.com; 202-465-5528
WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), inviting public comment on its proposed regulation to stop the practice of issuing new 14c certificates to employers, and to phase the use of existing 14c certificate holders over 3 years from the date the rule is finalized. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) received this news with excitement and applauds the proposed rule.
Under section 14c of The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, employers who are granted a certificate from the Department of Labor do not have to pay disabled employees minimum wage. Disabled workers under 14c certificates are paid $3.34/hour on average, with many workers being paid even less – despite many of those underpaid disabled workers performing the same duties as their non-disabled colleagues.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was signed into law before the creation of many of the tools, technologies, and labor protections that have allowed disabled people to thrive. Despite advancements in disability rights and disabled Americans’ civil rights to live, work, and receive services as integrated members of their communities, disabled workers have long been forced to work under conditions set amidst antiquated (and inaccurate) societal expectations of disabled people set almost 90 years ago. Disability organizations began opposing the use of 14c certificates and subminimum wage almost as soon as the practice started. Today’s NPRM is a critical point of progress in the broader effort to advance the economic power of disabled people.
“14c certificates are inherently based on a deeply flawed, false, ableist notion that disabled workers’ labor and contributions are less valuable than the labor and contributions of their non-disabled peers,” said AAPD President and CEO Maria Town.
Town continued, “Our world has transformed and advanced in countless ways since 1938. While the disability community still faces high rates of unemployment and under-employment, disabled people’s prospects of financial independence have considerably improved since 1938, as has our society’s collective understanding of disability. The ideas on which these certificates are based have no place in our modern society and workforce. Today’s NPRM from the Department of Labor is a long-overdue and critical action towards righting this wrong.”
“AAPD applauds this proposed regulation and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su’s leadership in recognizing that subminimum wage is discriminatory towards disabled workers. AAPD has long supported transitioning to competitive, integrated employment, which provides many alternatives to sheltered workshops and subminimum wage. Of course, this issue reaching DOL in the first place would not have been possible without decades of advocacy and leadership by the disability community, especially disabled people who work under 14c certificates,” Town concluded.
The Department of Labor will accept comments on the proposed rule for a period of 45 days. AAPD encourages as many people as possible to express their support for the proposed rule, especially disabled people who have been employed by 14c certificates or people whose families have been impacted by the low wages provided by 14c employers. Visit EndSubminimumWage.com to get involved, share your story, and tell the DOL why you support the new regulation.
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