Republican lawmakers warn against bill phasing out disabled workers’ subminimum wage
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — Disability advocates alongside some Republican lawmakers warned Wednesday proposed changes to an employment law could lead to hundreds of people with disabilities losing jobs across Illinois.
Some Illinois businesses and nonprofits utilize the 14(c) federal exemption to hire people with disabilities for jobs that don’t require higher productivity levels. Those workers can be paid less than the federal minimum wage under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.
House Democratic lawmakers in Springfield last year moved to pass a bill that would scrap that sub-minimum wage and have businesses pay those workers with the state’s minimum wage in the next three years.
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While they respect their colleagues’ purpose of creating the bill, Republican lawmakers said businesses in their districts say they wouldn’t be able to maintain those jobs if that subminimum wage is eliminated.
“What we are questioning or pointing out is that the road to hell is often paved with good intentions,” Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said.
Disability support organizations like the Springfield-based Sparc believe the state should take its time before making the decision.
“Before we can set timelines and timeframes and and all of that, we have to look at it and we have to look at the people that could end up paying the price for this,” Doug McDonald, the CEO and President of Sparc said at the news conference.
McDonald added Illinois government currently lacks the ability to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities’ jobs would be protected if the bill were to be signed into law.
Opponents of the bill believe it’s important Illinoisans with disabilities can work for lower wages rather than not at all.
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the number on that paycheck is,” Rep. CD Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville) said. “It’s the pride of having a job, and having the ability to show up and be with your friends that you work with, no matter what your production level is.”
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Advocates for the bill point out several other states like Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and Virginia have all phased out the sub-minimum wage exemption.
“You’re sending the message, that if you’re paid sub-minimum, you are worth less than others,” Nick Boyle, a policy analyst for Access Living, said. “Since this program started in 1938… our understanding of disability has changed a lot.”
A 2020 report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found from 2017-2018, the national average for a disabled worker under the 14(c) exemption had a wage of $3.34 and worked 16 hours per week.
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