Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act authorizes employers to pay special minimum wages — wages less than the Federal minimum wage — to workers who have disabilities for the work being performed.
Perhaps calling it the “Fair Labor Standards Act” was a typo? Or the minimum wage just wasn’t profitable enough for business owners?
I have a severe disability, and as is typical for people with a medical problem, I have other lesser disabilities that result from my primary problem.
I became disabled in a car accident. Fortunately my doctor saved my life; unfortunately, I randomly vomit when moving around, eating, or drinking because of osteopathic trauma from the accident and gastrointestinal injuries from ibuprofen overuse.
As vomit is quite unappealing, I can understand why people might not want to work in the same room as I do. My value as a colleague is diminished since I can’t lurk around the water cooler or go for beers after work with my coworkers. And to be honest, I can’t work as fast as I used to.
You wouldn’t want me to puke in your grocery bag, and I wouldn’t want to either, so I don’t apply for the grocery bagger job. But my friend Jerry, who was born with down syndrome, is the finest grocery bagger I know and has worked as a grocery bagger for many years.
Jerry loves his job, and doesn’t mind that he gets paid less than the other baggers. I don’t even know if Jerry is aware that he gets paid less, since he is bad at math and they mail his paychecks to his family caregivers.
Jerry doesn’t care but I care so much that it makes me sick to my stomach. It is debased and wicked to pay Jerry less than his other minimum wage essential worker colleagues simply because of his disability. Every time I see Jerry in the checkout line, it reminds me that in the USA, some people are STILL counted as a fraction of a human according to law. And it reminds me that my foot hurts and that I’m one of the people that is being devalued.
It makes me so mad that I want to vomit all over the grocery store in protest, but I don’t want to embarrass Jerry.