Starting this month, disabled people cannot be paid less than the minimum wage in South Carolina. A bill passed two years ago is now in effect. The state is phasing out positions with subminimum wages, some as low as five cents per hour.
Able SC, a disability-led non-profit organization, has fought for this change for a decade.
State data shows that less than 5% of disabled people who have been employed in sheltered workshops move into community- based employment. “The idea was to try to support individuals with disabilities, but as what typically happens when people without disabilities make rules and regulations around disabled community, they get it wrong, without consulting our community first,” said Mary Alex Kopp, vice president of Able SC.
According to Able SC leaders, it was an unsuccessful model. So, they approached South Carolina lawmakers, including Senator Tom Davis. “Individuals with disabilities were being trapped in these sub-minimum wage jobs. They weren’t graduating into higher paying jobs. They’re often being stigmatized, they were being segregated and placed into very rote assembly lined types of jobs and it was really degrading,” Davis said. Davis, along with many other lawmakers, advocated for legislation that would prohibit subminimum pay.
All 2,500 disabled people in the state who were employed at sheltered workshops have since found jobs in their local communities. According to Able SC, the next stages include submitting a report from the task group that oversaw the two-year transition period out of subminimum wage to the state’s Employment First Oversight Commission to continue the process.
South Carolina has now become the seventeenth state to have outlawed the practice.
Nationwide, fewer and fewer disabled people are being paid subminnimum wages. According to a January 2023 report to Congress from the United States Government Accountability Office, around 122,000 disabled workers were paid less than the federal minimum wage in 2019, compared to approximately 295,000 in 2010. As of September 2023, Labor Department data showed that the number of disabled people being paid less than the federal minimum wage had dropped below 43,000.
As of 2020, those who work in sheltered workshops make an average of $3.34 per hour. Subminimum pay is legal because, since 1938, disabled people have been permitted to be paid less than the minimum wage under United States labor law. This law was passed during the Great Depression to encourage more people to look for work.
Disabled people should have the same employment opportunities as nondisabled people. Equal access to employment should also mean fair wages for every employee. All disabled people should have access to employment.
Sources:
Diament, Michelle. “Feds Weighing Changes to Subminimum Wage Program.” Disability Scoop, Disability Scoop, 11 July 2024, http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2024/07/11/feds-weighing-changes-to-subminimum-wage-program/30959/.
Diament, Michelle. “Labor Department Scrutinizing Subminimum Wage Employment.” Disability Scoop, Disability Scoop, 2 Oct. 2023, http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/10/02/labor-department-scrutinizing-subminimum-wage-employment/30571/.
Ripp, Rachel. “Subminimum Wages for Individuals with Disabilities Phased out as of August 1, 2024.” WLTX, TEGNA Inc, 2 Aug. 2024, http://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/sc-employees-with-disabilities-must-be-paid-minimum-wage/101-31fda4fe-33ea-439c-a566-d7dc57745072.
Selyukh, Alina. “Workers with Disabilities Can Earn JUST $3.34 an HOUR. Agency Says Law Needs Change.” NPR, NPR, 17 Sept. 2020, http://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/912840482/u-s-agency-urges-end-to-below-minimum-wage-for-workers-with-disabilities.
Williams, Tayrn M. “Examining 50 Years of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973- Advancing Access and Equity for Individuals with Disabilities.” The United States Department of Labor Blog, The United States Department of Labor , 28 Sept. 2023, blog.dol.gov/2023/09/28/examining-50-years-of-the-rehabilitation-act-of-1973-advancing-access-and-equity-for-individuals-with-disabilities