Rule Would Have Ended Exemption for Workers with Disabilities
In an effort to provide more employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Labor has long had a rule in place, called the “Employment of Workers With Disabilities Under Section 14(C) of the Federal Labor Standards Act,” which allowed employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 per hour). In 2024, the Biden administration proposed ending the exemption, citing the fact that the number of people employed under the exemption had dropped substantially, from nearly 425,000 in 2001 to just over 40,000 in 2024. After giving serious consideration to disbanding the program, the Department of Labor has backed off, for a number of reasons:
- The DOL believes that, even though participation is substantially less than it was 20 years ago, there are still enough qualified individuals who would benefit from it to justify keeping it in place
- Since the DOL proposed doing away with the program, nearly 20,000 comments have been submitted, with the majority of them expressing fears that termination of the program will make it particularly difficult for persons with disabilities to find gainful employment.
- Members of Congress have expressed reservations that the DOL has the statutory authority to end the program, noting that similar state programs have only been disbanded by the efforts of state legislators.
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