South Carolina Companies that use prison labor must pay minimum wage
Source: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Three companies that had been using South Carolina inmate labor and paying below $2 an hour must now pay the inmates minimum wage.
The Greenville News reported Saturday that prisoners, who were doing such things as making license plates, refurbishing golf carts and recycling textiles, had not been considered manufacturing workers and did not fall under federal minimum wage laws.
The newspaper reported the 315 workers employed in such programs were being paid between 35 cents and $1.80 per hour, something black state lawmakers likened to slavery.
State Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has notified the three companies that they must now apply U.S. Justice Department prison industries guidelines, which include payment of at least the minimum wage, or they can no longer use state inmate labor.
Read more: http://sclawyersweekly.com/news/2015/09/28/sc-companies-that-use-prison-labor-must-pay-minimum-wage/#ixzz3nQgqhs18
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Read more: http://sclawyersweekly.com/news/2015/09/28/sc-companies-that-use-prison-labor-must-pay-minimum-wage/
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Written in 1938, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) discriminates against people with disabilities. The provision allows the Secretary of Labor to grant Special Wage Certificates to employers, permitting them to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. This is based on the false assumption that disabled workers are less productive than nondisabled workers, but successful employment models have emerged in the last seventy-five years to assist people with significant disabilities in acquiring the job skills needed for competitive work. Section 14(c) sustains segregated subminimum wage workshops that exploit disabled workers, paying some only pennies an hour for mundane, repetitive tasks.
The subminimum wage model fails to provide adequate training or employment to disabled workers. Data shows that less than five percent of the four-hundred thousand workers with disabilities in segregated subminimum wage workshops will transition into competitive integrated work. Moreover, research shows that the subminimum wage model costs more but actually produces less! In fact, workers must unlearn the useless skills they acquire in order to obtain meaningful employment. It is poor policy to reward such failed programs with wage exemptions, preferential federal contracts, and public and charitable contributions.
After more than seventy-five years of demonstrated failure, it is time to invest in proven, effective models for employment. Section 14(c) sustains the same segregated subminimum wage environments that existed in 1938 and has proven to be extremely ineffective and offers no incentive for mainstream employers to hire people with disabilities. The EmploymentFirst Movement promotes new concepts such as “supported” or “customized” employment that are successful at producing competitive integrated employment outcomes for individuals with significant disabilities that were previously thought to be unemployable.
