As our readers likely know, AMS Fulfillment works with community organizations such as Desert Haven and First Step. These are organizations that develop, enhance, and promote the capabilities of persons with developmental disabilities and assist participants to develop marketable job skills and gain work stability and experience through specialized training at community-based work sites.
At AMS we hire people with developmental (dis)Abilities, and we provide every employee equality in wages, health coverage and benefits. AMS’ best practice of salary benchmarking for our payrates using ERI which compiles the most robust salary, cost of living, and executive compensation survey data available, with updated market data for more than 1,100 industry sectors. ERI collects salary survey data from internal surveys, third-party salary surveys, and public sources to calculate geographic salary differentials and assist with compensation planning. As readers can see, it is important to us to offer fair wages to all of our employees.
Disability Employment News
At AMS we follow the news regarding disability employment, and we are pleased to see some changes on the horizon. According to liveaction dot org, the rule allowing employers to pay people with disabilities below minimum wage could end soon. The report is as follows:
“The United States Labor Department is considering axing a rule which allows people with disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage — a first step towards more equality for one of the country’s most persecuted groups.
“Reuters reports said the current rule, which exempts employees with disabilities from being paid the $7.25 minimum, is no longer necessary. Originally, the exemption was allegedly necessary to ensure people with disabilities had job opportunities. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers have been allowed to apply for exemptions known as 14(c) certificates allowing them to pay their disabled employees less than minimum wage when “necessary to prevent the curtailment of opportunities for employment.”
“This has continued, despite the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, making this change long overdue.
“A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that over 100,000 employees were being paid less than minimum wage as of 2019; half are paid less than $3.50 per hour, and about 10% are paid less than $1 an hour, which disability rights groups have rightly pointed out is exploitative.”
Changes to Come
The Reuters report [LINK] gives us not only more information, but a way to help affect change.
“The U.S. Department of Labor said the decades-old exemption from the standard minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, was no longer needed to meet its original goal of expanding job opportunities for people with disabilities.
“DOL in the rule proposed on Tuesday said that legal and policy developments including the adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 had rendered the program unnecessary, and that it would stop issuing new certificates and phase out existing ones over the next three years.
“DOL will accept public comments on the proposal through Jan. 17, a few days before Democratic President Joe Biden leaves office and Republican President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term.”
We are very pleased to see these changes to come, and we look forward to the day when all individuals with disabilities are fairly compensated for their time and effort on the job.
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AMS Fulfillment is a Certified B Corporation, dedicated to People and Planet before Profit. We work to B the Change we wish to see in the world.
