After years of advocacy, proponents of outlawing paying people with disabilities less than minimum wage thought they’d scored a victory last December. In the waning days of the Biden Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) proposed eliminating Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, passed in 1938 to help people with disabilities. It permits employers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
Thirteen states have outlawed paying people with disabilities at a subminimum level already, but the Trump Administration has reversed the Biden proposal to eliminate Section 14(c) certificates. In order to pay disabled employees less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, employers must apply for and receive a Section 14(c) certificate from USDOL, presumably after demonstrating to the agency that workers whose “earning or productive capacity is impaired by a physical or mental disability” are the beneficiaries.
The rationale for USDOL’s position change is probably rooted in anti-diversity efforts. Despite the Wage and Hour Division of USDOL determination that there was a significant decline in issuance of 14(c) certificates which dropped from 424,000 in 2001 to 40,579 in 2024, the Administration determined that tens of thousands still needed jobs that pay less than minimum wage. It could have been said, using that logic, that hundreds of thousands needed jobs paying less than minimum wage in 2001.
Even more curious is the Administration’s assertion that it must allow employers to pay less than minimum wage to people with disabilities because Congress created Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act back in 1938 and this Administration obeys the law. This from the people who brought you the elimination of whole government agencies created by Congress. The law merely permits the issuance of 14(c) certificates—it doesn’t require their issuance—and they can only be issued when USDOL determines they are necessary. The Biden Labor Department determined they were no longer necessary. The Trump Administration has decided it may be necessary for some employers to pay below minimum wage and has done what it could to preserve that right for them.
The proposal to eliminate the 14(c) exemption was supported by both Democrats and Republicans. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said: “a job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it.”
Now Congress will have to act to repeal this antiquated statute. Section 14(c) may have helped decades ago, but it has kept people not traditionally participating in competitive employment out of the workforce and in sheltered workshops. The last Congressional session saw the introduction of the Raise the Wage Act by Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia. Over the course of five years, it would have raised the minimum wage to $17 an hour. It would have eliminated the subminimum wage exemption by 2028.
State by state, the minimum wage will include workers with disabilities too. If workers aren’t paid fairly, they depend on the government to support them. At least four more states are currently considering legislative measures to outlaw the discriminatory practice of paying people with disabilities less than others because of their disabilities.
The Fair Labor Standards Act provisions that allow any workers to be paid less than the minimum wage must be repealed. Congress must reverse this action and each state must introduce minimum wage requirements that include people with disabilities.
Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Able News at The Viscardi Center and/or The Viscardi Center.