Stop Paying Disabled Workers Less Than Minimum Wage

Today is National Blogging Against Disablism Day, which means blogs across the United States are lighting up with e-stands against discrimination based on disability. Unfortunately, people with disabilities are still discriminated against in a number of ways. And one of the most pernicious of these ways is financial exploitation in the workplace. You can sign this petition to ask that people with disabilities be protected by federal minimum wage laws.

In the U.S., it's currently legal to pay workers with disabilities less than minimum wage, even if they can perform a job at the same level as a worker without a disability. One recent example of this happening was a group of state-run homes for people with disabilities in Iowa. They hired about 300 high-functioning people with mental disabilities to work at the homes, performing important jobs like cooking and serving food, janitorial services, and even delivery truck driving. Yet the disabled workers were only paid an average of $0.60 per hour, while the non-disabled were paid at least the federal minimum, $7.25 an hour. A wage difference of  over $6.00 an hour solely on the basis of disability? If that's not pay discrimination, then I don't know what is.

Proponents of the current law claim employers wouldn't hire people with disabilities if they had to pay them the minimum wage. They view a paycheck as providing important self-esteem for people with disabilities, even for those individuals who are not be paid enough to live off of. Since some of the employees who were working at the home were also residents in group housing, the argument is that their cost of living is low enough that they don't rely on paychecks like others. Other less magnanimous detractors have claimed that people with disabilities can't perform tasks at the same level, and employers should get a discount for hiring them. Barf.

Empowering people with disabilities to live as independently as possible is a great thing. But financially exploiting them does the exact opposite of that. The current law makes a statement that the work of disabled people is valued far below that of non-disabled people. The whole reason behind having laws like the minimum wage law is to protect workers who are vulnerable to slavery and exploitation. When you exclude vulnerable groups from that law, like people with disabilities, then you give corrupt employers space to enslave and exploit people. It's like writing a law with the goal of making people healthier, but the law bans several forms of exercise. It's just backwards.

It's time to expand minimum wage protection to all Americans, including those with disabilities. You can take a stand by sending a letter to Congress here.

Photo credit: Saucy Salad