Ending the Subminimum Wage Does Not Have Adverse Employment Effects

 Michelle Yin, Regina Seo, Hoa Vu, The labor market effects of subminimum wage elimination: Evidence from a national analysis, Labour Economics, Volume 100, 2026, 102884, ISSN 0927-5371, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2026.102884.

Highlights

• First national quasi-experimental analysis of subminimum wage elimination for PWD.
• Elimination reduced 14(c) employment by around 2000 workers per state within two years.
• No significant reductions in overall employment, hours worked, or wages for PWD.
• Reduced welfare receipt suggests elimination promotes economic self-sufficiency.
• Results support federal phase-out of Section 14(c) without adverse employment effects.

Abstract

This study examines the labor market effects of eliminating Section 14(c) subminimum wage employment laws for people with disabilities in the United States. We construct a novel panel dataset combining the universe of Department of Labor Section 14(c) administrative records (2015–2024) with individual-level data from the Current Population Survey (2009–2024). Exploiting the staggered elimination of Section 14(c) across fifteen states, we employ event-study and difference-in-differences designs to identify dynamic treatment effects. We find that elimination policies reduce formal subminimum wage employment by approximately 2000 workers per state within two years. Importantly, we find no statistically significant reductions in overall employment rates, competitive integrated employment, or hours worked among workers with disabilities. Estimates suggest economically meaningful reductions in welfare income receipt. These findings indicate that subminimum wage abolition achieves its intended policy objective by eliminating formal sheltered employment without imposing the adverse employment effects that critics of minimum wage policies predict. Our results inform ongoing federal deliberations over phasing out the Section 14(c) program.

Some States Have Ended the Subminimum Wage

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum. Trump's Labor Department withdrew a proposed rule that would have ended the subminimum wage nationwide.

USGAO:

In the last 10 years, 16 states have eliminated subminimum wage employment. And legislation to eliminate this type of employment nationwide has been proposed several times. Ending subminimum wage employment can be part of a shift to integrate people with disabilities into competitive work environments. In these settings, workers can earn wages at or above the federal minimum and work alongside those without disabilities.

States That Have Enacted Legislation Eliminating 14(c) Certificates as of January 2025 

The Subminimum Wage Survives

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

 Ryan Golden at HR Dive:

• The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday withdrew a Biden-era rule that aimed to phase out a section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that allowed employers to pay certain workers with disabilities wage rates that fall below the federal minimum wage.
• DOL’s rule, announced last December, would have ceased issuance of new certificates that allow employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities, while giving those with existing certificates a period of three years to gradually end the practice. At the time, the agency said subminimum wages were no longer necessary to preserve employment opportunities for participating workers.
• On Monday, the agency said it received more than 17,000 public comment submissions in response to the rule. It ultimately concluded that “a nonzero population” of workers rely upon the subminimum wage certificate program, and the department lacked authority to end the program because it had been mandated by an act of Congress.

In sharp contrast to the administration's many assertions of executive authority, DOL is now citing legal constraints From the Department of Labor:

The Department takes seriously the concerns expressed by Members of Congress and others that it lacks statutory authority to unilaterally and permanently terminate the issuance of section 14(c) certificates. Section 14 of the FLSA includes both permissive and mandatory provisions. For example, section 14(d) provides that the Secretary of Labor “ may by regulation or order” exempt certain student workers from FLSA wage-and-hour requirements. By contrast, section 14(c) states that the Secretary “ shall by regulation or order provide for the employment, under special certificates, of individuals . . . at wages which are . . . lower than the minimum wage” when the individual's disability impairs their earning or productive capacity. Where, as here, “a statute distinguishes between `may' and `shall,' it is generally clear that `shall' imposes a mandatory duty.” Kingdomware Tech., Inc. v. United States, 579 U.S. 162, 172 (2016) (citation omitted). Thus, section 14(c) imposes a mandatory duty on the Department to provide for the issuance of subminimum wage certificates “to the extent necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment.”

Biden Administration Moves to End the Subminimum Wage

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

Jacqueline Alemany at WP:

The Biden administration is moving to phase out a Depression-era program that allows some employers to pay disabled workers far less than minimum wage, fulfilling one of President Joe Biden’s campaign promises and triggering what is likely to become a fierce legal and political battle.

The decision is the culmination of the Department of Labor’s year-long review of the program, which opponents have criticized as a form of discrimination and supporters have described as providing disabled people with hard-to-find opportunities for steady wages and meaningful work. The agency will issue a proposed rule Tuesday that would immediately halt the issuance of certificates that allow employers to pay less than minimum wage and institute a three year phaseout period for employers that already hold those certificates.

Before it can take effect, the rule will be subject to a public comment period, possible legal challenges and the scrutiny of the incoming Trump administration. The public comment period is expected to conclude on Jan. 17, 2025, just days before Donald Trump takes office. His administration will have to evaluate and respond to those comments, and then issue a final rule — or withdraw the rule entirely.

Labor Department press release:

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposed rule that would phase out the issuance of certificates allowing employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, for the work they perform.

The rule proposes to gradually eliminate certificates employers can apply for under Section 14(c) of Fair Labor Standards Act that allow them to pay certain workers with disabilities subminimum wages. The department proposes to discontinue the issuance of new certificates and establish a three-year phase-out period for employers with existing certificates once a final rule becomes effective.

“This proposal demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration’s dedication to good jobs for workers with disabilities,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “In the decades since Section 14(c) was included in the Fair Labor Standards Act, there have been significant legal and policy developments that have dramatically expanded employment opportunities and rights for individuals with disabilities. With this proposal, the department expects that many workers currently paid subminimum wages under Section 14(c) will move into jobs that pay full wages, which will improve their economic wellbeing and strengthen inclusion for people with disabilities in the workforce.”

The proposed rule would do the following:

• Cease the department’s issuance of new Section 14(c) certificates starting on the effective date of a final rule.
• Institute a three-year period beginning on the effective date of a final rule for employers holding existing Section 14(c) certificates to gradually cease paying subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.

The Subminimum Wage Is Problematic

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum

The subminimum wage is a good example of policy failure. Amanda Morris, Caitlin Gilbert and Jacqueline Alemany at WP:

• Federal rules state that 14(c) employers must help disabled workers move on to higher-paying jobs, but many never leave the program. In 2022, just 0.5 percent of 14(c) workers were referred by their employers to vocational rehabilitation services, the main pathway for them to leave the program, according to data from the Rehabilitation Services Administration for 35 state agencies.
• When states have ended 14(c) subminimum wage programs, overall employment of adults with cognitive disabilities has increased. A Post analysis of eight states that ended their programs before 2022 showed that employment rates for adults with cognitive disabilities increased by at least 14 percent after state programs were canceled, when adjusted for overall employment rate growth.
• About one in three current 14(c) employers have failed to correctly pay wages, but that is probably an undercount because few are investigated each year. Between October 2009 and September 2023, the Labor Department ordered employers to pay $20.2 million in back wages for pay and other violations.

...

Oversight of different aspects of the 14(c) program is fragmented between four federal agencies — the departments of Labor, Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services. However, no federal agency is in charge of making sure individuals move from 14(c) programs into community employment. A stream of government reports over three decades have called for additional oversight of the program or ending it entirely. In a 2020 report, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights wrote that the 14(c) system was “rife with abuse,” with respect to wages, and found that workers were not getting the support they needed to move on into community jobs.

A 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office surveyed wage data from 2019 to 2021 and found that workers were typically making about $3.50 per hour, compared with a federal minimum wage of $7.25. About 12 percent made hourly wages of less than a dollar

Only about 2 percent of workers fully transitioned out of 14(c) jobs into a competitive, integrated job, according to August 2021 data from the same agency.

A Case for Subminimum Wages

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum

Amy S.F. Lutz at WP:

These are the facts: Rather than going to for-profit businesses, 93 percent of 14(c) certificates are held by nonprofit community rehabilitation programs. And no participants are expected to live off the wages they earn. Typically, 14(c) placement is part of a suite of federal and state benefits — including Supplemental Security Income, transportation and residential services — whose costs frequently run into the six figures per year per person.

Most important, 14(c) programs are extraordinarily popular with participants and their families. In 2020, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (UCCR) considered the future of the subminimum wage. In doing so, it solicited comments from the public and received nearly 10,000 — more than it had for any other issue.

Almost all the comments (98 percent) favored preserving 14(c) and cited many factors, including the supportive environment and participants’ preference for a community of similarly disabled peers — the chance to work alongside others while engaged in a variety of tasks, such as shredding documents, recycling plastic, slipping greeting cards into envelopes, or sorting and shelving items in a thrift shop. But the biggest reason, typically articulated by parents on behalf of adult children whose impairments make self-advocacy impossible, was that their kids are simply not capable of competitive, minimum-wage labor.

Lalbor Department to Review Subminimum Wage Program

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum  There is bipartisan support for ending the subminimum wage.

Taryn M. Williams at the Department of Labor:

At the Department of Labor, our North Star is building a more accessible and equitable workplace for all, including workers with disabilities. While we have made substantial progress towards fulfilling the promise of access and equity, there’s still room to go. We know that many workers with disabilities are still being paid wages far below the federal minimum wage under section 14(c) certificates. We have been urged by not just advocates but also by numerous oversight entities and advisory groups, ranging from the Government Accountability Office, the National Council on Disability, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to the DOL’s own Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment, to carefully review the 14(c) program and prioritize competitive integrated employment.

And that is what we are going to do. The Department of Labor – led by the Office of Disability Employment Policy, the Wage and Hour Division, our Solicitor, and our policy office– is embarking on engaging stakeholders to ensure opportunities for competitive integrated employment and to move toward greater equity and economic security for workers with disabilities. We are launching a comprehensive review of the Section 14(c) program to re-examine its use and future viability. As part of this effort, we want to hear from all of you – and especially individuals with disabilities – about your experiences with the 14(c) program, and what changes are needed to expand equitable employment opportunities for people with disabilities. In the coming weeks we will be engaging with key organizations, stakeholders, and impacted workers directly on these important issues.

The Rehab Act and NDEAM are fundamentally about the notions of access and equity for people with disabilities. We believe that this historic anniversary is the right time to ask this question about the 14(c) program. We want to hear from you about how you have been impacted by changing laws and government policies, access to services and supports, and even shifting social views about what work opportunities people with disabilities are able to take on and in fact deserve. As our Acting Secretary said earlier this week at the White House Disability Policy Forum celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, we need your thoughts, your ideas, and your partnership to do this right. I couldn’t agree more.

Bipartisan Bill to Phase Out Subminimum Wages

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum

 A release from Senator Bob Casey (D-PA):

Today, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Steve Daines (R-MT) and U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA-3) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5) are announcing introduction of the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act, (TCIEA) legislation to end subminimum wages for people with disabilities. Currently, the Fair Labor Standards Act permits employers to pay people with disabilities below the minimum wage if they hold a certificate to do so. The TCIEA would end this discriminatory practice and support employers transitioning to paying competitive, fair wages to people with disabilities to work in integrated settings in their communities. People with disabilities are better able to achieve financial independence and spend more time engaging in their communities when they transition to competitive employment and work in integrated environments—workplaces that hire both people with disabilities and people without disabilities. The majority of subminimum wage workers have an intellectual or developmental disability and are paid less than $3.50 an hour.

Sen. Casey and Rep. Scott are also highlighting the results of a new report they requested from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing the Department of Labor’s (DOL) oversight of the 14(c) certificate program, which allows employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities. The report finds that between 2012 and 2021, DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) identified over $15 million in unpaid back wages owed to more than 73,500 14(c) employees due to employers’ failure to fairly compensate employees.

“Paying workers less than the minimum wage is unacceptable. Everyone deserves to be paid a fair wage, and Americans with disabilities are no exception. This commonsense, bipartisan bill would lift up people with disabilities by raising their wages and creating competitive jobs in workplaces that employ both workers with and without disabilities,” said Senator Casey.

“Montanans with disabilities contribute to our communities and their work is valuable—they should never be paid below minimum wage. There is dignity and hope in work, so we should be doing all we can to expand opportunity and ensure fair pay to Montanans with disabilities in the workforce,” said Senator Daines.

“While GAO notes that the number of employers authorized to pay subminimum wages under the 14(c) program decreased by 50 percent between 2010 and 2019, the data suggest that most 14(c) workers are earning less than $3.50 per hour. In other words, they are still being denied equal opportunity in America,” said Ranking Member Scott. “It is long past time for Congress to phase out the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities and expand access to fulfilling employment and economic self-sufficiency. By fostering collaboration between employers and services providers, this bipartisan legislation makes clear that it is not only possible, but beneficial, to invest in fully integrated and competitive jobs for people with disabilities. We must take this next step to ensure that every worker can succeed in the workplace and earn a fair wage.”

“America is the land of opportunity where no one is defined by the conditions of their birth. It’s in this spirit that we should be doing everything we can to bring people with disabilities off the sidelines and into the workforce,” said Rodgers. “This work started with creating and expanding ABLE accounts, which are empowering individuals with disabilities to reach their full potential. Today, with this bipartisan legislation, it continues on the next policy frontier – employment. Together, we can end the outdated practice of paying individuals with disabilities a subminimum wage and help them live more independent lives.”

Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “States, federal agencies, and employers themselves increasingly recognize that it is time to move away from the antiquated model of segregated, subminimum-wage employment and toward allowing the blind and other disabled Americans to participate in the kind of meaningful, remunerative work that others take for granted. Blindness or disability does not equal lack of capacity to engage in competitive, integrated employment, and we applaud Chairman Casey for rejecting eighty-five years of false thinking about our capabilities.”

The GAO report found that the number of employers paying subminimum wages to people with disabilities has decreased from 3,100 in 2010 to almost 1,600 in 2019, while more people with disabilities, including those with intellectual disabilities, participate in the labor market than ever before. WHD officials and stakeholder organizations attribute the declines in subminimum wage employment to recent federal and state policies, including Senator Casey’s successful efforts to include funding for the Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment (SWTCIE) pilot program in the FY21 federal spending bill. The program provides five-year grant awards for states to help employers transition to paying competitive, fair wages to people with disabilities. The Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation will receive $13 million to begin phasing out subminimum wage jobs for Pennsylvanians with disabilities as part of the program.

GAO also found that WHD’s processing times for 14(c) certificate applications and renewals varied widely, ranging from 2 days to over 2 years. Long processing times allow employers with expired certificates to continue operations without meeting program requirements. Some of these requirements include paying fair commensurate wages to workers and providing required career counseling about employment options outside of subminimum wage work, activities that can help people with disabilities earning subminimum wages to transition to competitive, integrated employment.

GAO outlined three recommendations to WHD to ensure better oversight of the 14(c) certificate program:WHD should set and track timeliness goals for intermediate steps and overall duration for processing 14(c) applications.
WHD should externally communicate its goals for timely 14(c) application processing to employers and stakeholders.
WHD should solicit feedback from 14(c) employers regarding the online application and take steps to address limitations and improve the overall timeliness of application processing.

Read more about the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act here link.

Read the GAO report here link.

Fewer Employers Take Part in Subminimum Wage Program

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

Government Accountability Office:

Through the 14(c) program, the Department of Labor (DOL) certifies employers to pay individuals with disabilities wages below the federal minimum—also known as subminimum wage. Employer participation in this program decreased by about half from 2010 to 2019, according to GAO's analysis of DOL data. During this period, the number of 14(c) workers also fell from about 296,000 to 122,000. Officials GAO interviewed from DOL and four stakeholder organizations attributed this decline, in part, to federal and state policies restricting the payment of wages below the federal minimum. Since August 2019, most 14(c) workers earned less than $3.50 per hour, while about 14 percent earned at or above the federal minimum of $7.25. Representatives from two of the four stakeholder organizations said these earnings patterns may reflect differences in workers' skills and abilities, employment opportunities, and state minimum wage laws.

Subminimum

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

Eleanor J. Bader at Truthout:

The subminimum for disabled workers has its roots in another discriminatory policy and rests on the idea that disabled workers — especially those with intellectual limitations — are less competent and need to be isolated from others. Depression-era Labor Secretary Frances Perkins was a proponent of this idea, and urged Congress to allow a lowered wage for shell-shocked World War I veterans who were having trouble reintegrating into the labor force. Those who “by reason of illness or age or something else are not up to normal production” would benefit, she testified. Her position gained traction and when the Fair Labor Standards Act became law in 1938, it included Section 14(c) to enable employers to pay those deemed disabled an unspecified, but lower, salary.

Fast forward 84 years and the average hourly wage for sheltered workshop participants is currently $3.34. As of July 2020, the most recent data available, the Department of Labor counted 67,288 individuals earning a subminimum wage thanks to 14(c).

Not surprisingly, disability rights groups are working to raise the wage and completely eliminate workshops. Their efforts include legislative advocacy at the state and federal levels, among other strategies.

One key element of their work involves support for The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act, which was introduced by Senators Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) and Steve Daines (R-Montana) earlier this year. The act will phase out the subminimum wage for disabled workers in sheltered workshops over a five-year period. A House version, HR 2733, was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia).

BBB and the Subminimum

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

Shirin Ali at The Hill:

The National Down Syndrome Society points out that people employed under the 14(c) certificates are often trained to perform tasks that don’t actually build capacity or transfer into skills that will help them land other jobs. “This practice reinforces the stigmatic misconception that people with disabilities are less productive and creates an artificial competitive barrier to future employment opportunities.”

Congress is trying to fix this, with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) announcing in November the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (TCIEA) that aims to provide grants to states or employers to go toward transitioning to a business model that pays workers with disabilities at least minimum wage.

Biden’s Build Back Better bill incorporates much of TCIEA by providing $300 million toward a multi-year grant program that would assist states and employers to transform their business models to provide at least the minimum wage applicable in that state. It doesn’t completely outlaw FSLA provisions that allow subminimum wage, but through issuing grants the federal government will require states to provide assurances that it won’t permit employers to use subminimum wage certificates.

Build Back Better also proposes giving $24 million in grants to states that have already eliminated the certificates allowing subminimum wages and another $6 million toward establishing a national technical assistance center to assist states and employers in their transition to end subminimum wages.

Bill to End the Subminimum Wage

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

 A release from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers:

Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) and Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) introduced the bipartisan Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act to ensure that states and employers help workers with disabilities transition into fully integrated and competitive jobs.

The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act provides states, service providers, subminimum wage certificate holders, and other agencies with the resources to create competitive integrated employment service delivery models while phasing out subminimum wages for workers with disabilities, which are currently allowed under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, over a five-year period.

“Disability employment is the next policy frontier to empower people with disabilities to live full and independent lives,” said Rodgers. “A job is so much more than just a paycheck, it’s what gives us dignity, purpose, and the opportunity for a better life. I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan fashion to ensure more people – who are ready, willing, and able to work – find employment.”

Under Section 14(c), employers can apply for special certificates from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to pay individuals with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. There is no minimum floor for the hourly wage that an employer can pay an individual with a disability under these certificates.

“Today, federal law continues to deny access to opportunity for many workers with disabilities. It is long past time for Congress to phase out the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities and expand access to fulfilling employment and economic self-sufficiency,” said Scott. “By fostering collaboration between employers and services providers, this legislation makes clear that it is not only possible, but beneficial to invest in fully integrated and competitive jobs for people with disabilities. We must take this next step to ensure that every worker can succeed in the workplace and earn a fair wage.”

In 2020, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights called for phasing out the 14(c) subminimum wage, finding that it has “limited people with disabilities participating in the program from realizing their full potential while allowing providers and associated businesses to profit from their labor.” Research also confirms that, when individuals with disabilities transition to competitive employment, they are better able to achieve financial independence and spend time engaging in their community.

While seven states have either phased out workshops that pay subminimum wages or are in the process of doing so, a recent GAO report underscores that many employers and workers with disabilities do not have the appropriate resources or services to transition to competitive integrated employment. The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act specifically provides states, service providers, subminimum wage certificate holders, and other agencies with resources and technical assistance to help workers with disabilities transition away from sheltered workshops and into community employment settings.

The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act:

• Creates a competitive state grant program to assist states to transition all 14(c) certificate holders to models that support competitive, integrated employment for individuals with disabilities. States will be able to apply for these transformation grants and must establish an advisory committee of key stakeholders, including employers, organizations specializing in employment for individuals with disabilities, Medicaid agencies, AbilityOne contractors, individuals with disabilities and their families, and vocational rehabilitation agencies. States that successfully complete a grant will be eligible for a 25% increase in the allotment for supported employment for individuals with the most significant disabilities.
• Creates a competitive grant program for current 14(c) certificate holders that are located in states that do not apply for the state grant, to transition their business models to support individuals with disabilities in competitive, integrated employment.
• Immediately freezes the issuance of any new 14(c) certificates by DOL and phases out the use of existing 14(c) certificates over 5 years until employees are paid at least the federal minimum wage.
• Establishes a technical assistance (TA) center to support all entities, even those not receiving the transformation grants, to transition to competitive integrated employment. The TA center, which will be funded by DOL, is tasked with disseminating information about best practices, lessons learned, and models for transition to all entities transitioning to competitive, integrated employment.
• Requires reporting and evaluation on the progress of creating and expanding the service delivery structure to support workers with disabilities in competitive integrated settings and the inclusive wraparound services they receive when not working. States and 14(c) certificate holders will also be required to report on their grant activities, evaluate changes in employment for individuals with disabilities, report average wage information, and evaluate employer actions taken to comply with the phase out of 14(c) and transformation grants.

Click here for a fact sheet on the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act. 

Click here to read the bill text.

The Government Accountability Office has a report titled "Subminimum Wage Program:Factors Influencing the Transition of Individuals with Disabilities to Competitive Integrated Employment" GAO-21-260.

GAO identified 32 factors that can influence the transition from 14(c) employment to competitive integrated employment (CIE). Generally, CIE is employment that (1) is paid at or above the applicable minimum wage; (2) is performed in integrated settings, among people with and without disabilities; and (3) offers opportunities for advancement. GAO grouped the factors into the four categories depicted below, and experts and state officials GAO interviewed validated them.

The 17 interviewees identified the factors in each category they believed to be among the most important for influencing transition from 14(c) employment to CIE, and provided some additional detailed perspectives. Such factors included:

• Concern for Maintaining Benefits (employee): Eight interviewees considered this factor to be among the most important. They explained that individuals or families may fear that earning higher wages in CIE would make individuals ineligible for certain benefits, but several noted that benefits counseling could mitigate these concerns.
• Sufficiency of CIE Resources for 14(c) Certificate Holder (employer): Eight interviewees considered this factor to be among the most important. Six interviewees noted that certificate holders may be discouraged from providing CIE-focused services, such as job coaching, when funding for these services is lower than for services provided in 14(c) settings.
• State Resources for CIE (public policy): Twelve interviewees considered this factor to be among the most important. For example, officials from one state described plans to offer specialized training to 14(c) employer staff, which two interviewees said is key to helping individuals transition to CIE.
• Available Transportation (local economy): Eight interviewees considered this factor to be among the most important. Two interviewees noted ways to mitigate transportation-related challenges, such as 14(c) employers identifying nearby job openings for potential CIE positions.

Most interviewees said that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused disruptions to either 14(c) employment or CIE and described uncertainties about the future of transitions. For example, many interviewees noted that 14(c) employers have closed their facilities to comply with public health requirements. While some interviewees said that many individuals working in CIE have retained their jobs due to their status as essential workers, other interviewees described a general fear that people with disabilities are first to be fired and last to be rehired.

Ridge v. Subminimum Wage

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

At USA Today, Tom Ridge -- former DHS secretary and current chair of the National Organization on Disability.-- argues against the subminimum wage for people with disabilities:

When I testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission on this issue in 2019, I explained that the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 unequivocally told the world that discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex or national orientation would not be tolerated in America. The Americans with Disabilities Act expanded the Civil Rights Act’s powerful and historic protections to include people with disabilities. All Americans should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams.

The phase out of what is known as section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sanctions paying individuals with disabilities less than minimum wage, is no less than another critical civil rights issue. It is inconsistent with the fairness and equal opportunity guaranteed to every citizen in the United States under existing legislation.

Some people working under 14(c) certificates earn mere pennies per hour. This system tells Americans with disabilities and their families that they are not worth the same as other Americans, that society values them and their labor less.

In 1938, when the FLSA legislation was passed, it was assumed that a worker with a disability was less productive than a non-disabled worker. In retrospect, it was a flawed assumption. We want to be fair to the intent of the original legislation, which was to provide individuals with disabilities an opportunity to enter the workforce.

Nearly a century later, however, the law still contains Section 14(c). Now we know that workers with disabilities, given equal opportunity and appropriate tools or technologies, can perform as well as their non-disabled counterparts. This has been reaffirmed in the past year with so many of us working successfully from home, something people with disabilities have argued they could have been doing all along.

It is long past time to take this fair, commonsense step in the march to freedom for Americans with disabilities. By ensuring that the elimination of the sub-minimum wage remains part of his American Rescue Plan, President Biden can send a powerful message that all Americans, including those with disabilities, must have a chance to have the financial freedom and security we all desire.

Biden Would End Subminimum Wage for People with Disabilities

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.

Sarah Katz at The Atlantic:

Biden’s disability plan, released in late May, includes a promise to work with Congress to pass the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act. The act would provide grants for which states can apply to help employers phase out the subminimum wage and integrate workers with disabilities into their community over a period of six years.

Introduced in 2019 by Bob Casey, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, and co-sponsored by 59 Democrats and seven Republicans in both houses, the legislation is the product of a yearslong effort. Since the civil-rights movement in the 1960s, disability-rights activists have decried the subminimum wage as discriminatory, and federal lawmakers have made several unsuccessful attempts to abolish it. Their efforts have been thwarted time and again by lobbyists for large subminimum-wage employers, such as Goodwill, who argue that eliminating the subminimum wage would deprive people with disabilities of work opportunities. Neil Romano, the chair of the National Council on Disability, says these lobbyists often have the “single most important weapon” in tow: parents or guardians of someone in a workshop who fear for their loved one’s prospects in the mainstream workforce.

But Biden and an increasing number of lawmakers today are resolute about getting rid of the submimimum wage, arguing that it conflicts with existing policy meant to protect people with disabilities from discrimination, including the ADA. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, for example, has been pushing federal legislation, including the bill Biden supports.
...

Until President Donald Trump’s 2016 run, disability rights were largely uncontentious and not associated with a particular party. The ADA, for example, was enacted by a Republican president, George H. W. Bush. However, after Trump mocked the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Serge F. Kovaleski, who has a physical disability, and after reports that Trump has been repeatedly sued for violations of the ADA, disability issues entered the mainstream political conversation. For the first time in history, they became a focus of a major-party presidential nominee’s campaign, as Hillary Clinton pledged to ban the subminimum wage..

..
Some states have also already ended or begun phasing out the subminimum wage and sheltered workshops. In 2002, Vermont became the first state to abolish the subminimum wage—and, data show, has been the most successful at integrating people with disabilities into the mainstream workforce. Within three years of sheltered workshops’ closure, 80 percent of former workshop workers found employment. Today, the state’s integrated employment rate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is twice the national average: 38 percent, compared with a rate of 19 percent nationally.

At least six states have followed Vermont, including New Hampshire, Maryland, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, and Maine. In 2019, Texas mandated that all state contractors increase their wages for workers with disabilities to the federal minimum wage by 2022. To date, 40 states have adopted “Employment First” legislation or state policy aimed at integrating workers with disabilities into the community.

Subminimum Wage Issue in Minnesota

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

Political conflict involves ideas and arguments for which the information is often murky, incomplete, interpretive, and open to manipulation. Just about everything concerning autism is subject to dispute. What is it? What causes it? How many different kinds of it are there? Who has it? What can we do about it? Is it even the right problem to be thinking about? All of these questions, and many others, are the stuff of bitter political battles. The stakes are high: according to one estimate, the national cost of supporting people with autism adds up to $236 billion per year. Of course, such numbers themselves entail controversy. An alternative perspective is that they do not represent the cost of autism, but rather the cost of discrimination against people who have it, and the failure to help them lead independent lives.

Chris Serres at Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Minnesota would become the fourth state in the nation to prohibit employers from paying people with disabilities less than the state’s minimum wage, under a proposed measure that would phase out the decades-old practice by 2024.

The legislation, which passed a state House committee this week, would force dramatic changes at approximately 100 centers across the state, known as sheltered workshops, that benefit from a loophole in federal labor law that allows them to pay people with disabilities based on their productivity, rather than a fixed hourly rate. In many cases, their pay amounts to just cents an hour for basic tasks, such as packaging merchandise, scrubbing toilets and shredding paper. These state-subsidized workshops, which provide a broad range of support services, employ nearly 10,000 people with disabilities — among the most of any state, according to Minnesota workforce officials.
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Proponents of the legislation maintain that a gradual phasing out of subminimum wages would enable the state to avoid costly sanctions and would give state workforce officials and families time to develop alternative employment options in the community. “Everyone deserves to earn a minimum wage,” said Jillian Nelson, policy advocate for the Autism Society of Minnesota. “But we can’t just kick people to the streets.”

Still, the measure faces vigorous opposition from many parents of people with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities, who fear their adult children will lose support services and have nowhere to go if the local workshops close. In many smaller towns, these parents maintain, the workshops — sometimes called “day activity centers” — are the only option for community engagement and employment. In some rural communities, workshops are also the primary source of transit, shuttling people to and from work and activities in the community.They also provide a vital source of social interaction for people who would otherwise be stuck spending their days at more isolating group homes, parents maintain.

Subminimum Wage as an Issue

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

Political conflict involves ideas and arguments for which the information is often murky, incomplete, interpretive, and open to manipulation. Just about everything concerning autism is subject to dispute. What is it? What causes it? How many different kinds of it are there? Who has it? What can we do about it? Is it even the right problem to be thinking about? All of these questions, and many others, are the stuff of bitter political battles. The stakes are high: according to one estimate, the national cost of supporting people with autism adds up to $236 billion per year. Of course, such numbers themselves entail controversy. An alternative perspective is that they do not represent the cost of autism, but rather the cost of discrimination against people who have it, and the failure to help them lead independent lives.

At Forbes, Andrew Pulrang discusses competing narratives of disability issues, including the subminimum wage:

Is the longstanding policy of allowing certain employers to pay some disabled workers to be paid less than Minimum Wage a necessary opening to employment opportunities for people with disablities? Or, is it an outdated and exploitative policy long overdue for repeal? Answers seem to depend on two vastly different ideas about disability and paid work.

Sub-minimum wage is better than nothing. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and some other “severe” disabilities, are paid less than minimum because they can’t realistically work in regular jobs. For these disabled people is about more than money. It’s about socialization, meaningful activity, and pride. Abolishing sub-minimum wage will only make them lose the jobs they have, making them worse off than before.

Or ...

Sub-minimum wage is fundamentally wrong. If it ever was justified, sub-minimum wage is long overdue to be abolished. Anyone who works for pay, committing their time and effort to do so, should be paid at least Minimum Wage. Disabled people experience enough poverty as it is, and the humiliation of being paid under Minimum Wage erases much of the purported pride they get from working. Plus, with the right support, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are often a lot more capable in the workplace than even their families and closest allies are able to imagine.

The main reasons this issue isn’t already resolved are an understandable fear of change, a failure of imagination, and in some cases, the greed of employers who just want to preserve this source of cheap labor. Out of all the current disability issues, this may be the one closest to being solved. Presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren are all in favor of ending Sub-minimum wage, and some states have already done so successfully.