NCD recommendations key to ending 14(c) subminimum wage discrimination
For Immediate Release
December 4, 2024
WASHINGTON — Yesterday marked an important day for American workers with disabilities facing wage discrimination, as the U.S. Department of Labor made a long-needed step toward fixing antiquated policy under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that ends the department’s issuance of new Section 14(c) certificates and a three-year phaseout for employers holding existing Section 14(c) certificates to gradually cease paying subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.
Since 1938, the United States has used the FLSA to shape how workers are legally paid. Section 14(c) of the law allowed business owners to legally pay certain classified workers with disabilities less than the federal standard minimum wage—known as subminimum wage employment.
“It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the just thing to do,” said NCD Chair Claudia Gordon. “This proposed rule to phase out Section 14(c) certificates aligns with our values of justice and equality. It ensures that people with disabilities are treated with dignity and respect, and that they have the chance to earn a fair wage and achieve economic security.”
“This proposed rule is consistent with goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act – namely, equality of opportunity and economic self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities – and we are gratified that the Department of Labor has started this important rulemaking process, which we have advised for over ten years and we hope will continue in the next Administration,” said NCD Council Member Neil Romano, who previously served as Chair during the first Trump administration and was also a previous Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy.
The National Council on Disability has a very specific, critical role in government, making disability policy recommendations primarily to the President, Congress and federal agencies, but also to State, local and Tribal governments.
In 2012, the agency released a report titled, National Council on Disability Report on Subminimum Wage and Supported Employment, examining the issue that legally allowed certain employers receiving certificates from the Wage and Hour Division to pay employees as little as pennies an hour for their work.
NCD’s follow-up report, published in 2018 , National Disability Employment Policy, From the New Deal to the Real Deal, found no improvement to the program and reiterated our previous recommendations again calling on policymakers to phase it out.
Since publishing the reports, NCD has consistently called upon policymakers to phase-out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, while implementing a conversion or transformation strategy that would expand opportunities to transition away from the segregated subminimum wage model perpetuated under 14(c).
The Council continues to advise for a bipartisan approach to implement this systems change, modernizing business and program models away from the outdated subminimum wage model to one supporting opportunities for all to enter competitive integrated employment.
Read the NPRM posted to the Federal Register.