Paying disabled workers less than minimum wage is wrong...

I swear to god the federal government is trolling me. So Goodwill and I have a complicated relationship. A family member of mine is employed with them as a technical writer and she also works with their consumers (mentally disabled individuals). Additionally, Goodwill does do some good providing employment with the mentally disabled and providing goods to the low income.

All that said, the more and more I hear about Goodwill the more disturbing the whole non-profit seems. Like many non-profits, Goodwill is operating much more like a corporation because non-profits have to compete with private for profit companies. On Friday, Katie Mcdonough wrote a piece for Salon on disabled workers pay from Goodwill, specifically, that Goodwill is paying less than minimum wage.

In 2011, Goodwill Industries (a multibillion-dollar non-profit) paid workers with disabilities in Pennsylvania wages as low as 22, 38, and 41 cents an hour, according to Labor Department records obtained by NBC News. Goodwill isn’t the only non-profit doing this. Apparently, there is a loophole in the federal labor law due to a Depression-era loophole in federal labor law, as reported by NBC:

“Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was passed in 1938, allows employers to obtain special minimum wage certificates from the Department of Labor. The certificates give employers the right to pay disabled workers according to their abilities, with no bottom limit to the wage…The non-profit certificate holders can also place employees in outside, for-profit workplaces including restaurants, retail stores, hospitals and even Internal Revenues Service centers.”

Goodwill defends its practice as an attempt to provide jobs to people who need and want them, but disability and labor rights advocates call the loophole exploitative. It traps disabled workers in a system that places their value below those without disabilities. The Fair Waged for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013 (H.R. 831) currently being considered in Congress to repeal Section 14 (c) and mandate employers fairly compensate workers. This faces fierce opposition from trade associations representing employers who benefit from the loophole.

Obviously, this bill should pass, but probably won’t. Awesome. *facepalm*

Just to be clear, the Working Families Flexibility Act means flexibility for employers not to pay overtime. That is all.

So I missed this because I’m super busy for the next month, but Katie J.M. Baker had a post on Jezebel about the “Working Families Flexibility Act,” which as she says is crap. Naturally, the House of Representatives passed the Working Families Flexibility Act (H.R. 1406) on Wednesday, which amends the Fair Labor Standards Act by allowing employers and workers to “choose” to take compensatory time off rather than get time and a half overtime pay.

Republicans claim this is great for busy moms, but everyone else is pretty sure that the “flexible” act would deliberately make it harder for workers to balance home and work. Just to be clear instead of working on paid sick leave, the US House of Representatives wants to destroy overtime for comp time. More than 80% of private sector workers are low wage workers and can’t get one paid sick day. More than 40% of all workers can’t get unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, but the GOP is focusing on eliminating overtime pay. This means working more for less money, make no mistake.

First this bill will be hard to enforce. The DOL (Department of Labor) is already having trouble enforcing regulations, and with only 6% of private sector employees being unionized no one will be watching the enforcement. What happens is an employee feels pressured to take comp time instead of overtime? Or will employees who choose overtime have few chances for extra hours than their peers choosing comp time? Will there be a cap on comp time or stipulations on having to use it or lose it like vacation?

Additionally, the time and a half clause in the Fair Labor Standards Act is the governor of the 40 hour work week. Employers don’t make employees work more than 40 hours a week because it is expensive (though now, I think health insurance also contributes to this full-time/part-time distinction and the rise of part-time workers who don’t get overtime often anyway). Finally, employers might get to decide when employees can use their earned comp time.

We do not like this. It cuts the pay of low wage workers “flexibility” be damned. The Obama administration said he would veto the bill. The White House said “This legislation undermines the existing right to hard-earned overtime pay, one which many working families rely to make ends meet, while misrepresenting itself as a workplace-flexibility measure that gives power to employees over their over schedules.”