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Georgia’s Dignity in Pay Act!

Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows employers to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages, which are wages that are less than the federal minimum wage.

For decades, it has been legal to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wages. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed and specified standards for basic minimum wage rates and overtime pay. It also created a special exemption authorizing employers to pay wages significantly lower than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities. Progressive at the time, these wage provisions were originally created to encourage the employment of veterans with disabilities in a manufacturing-centered economy.  Nowadays, paying significantly lower than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities is seen more and more as inequitable and challenging to civil rights.

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Status of Bill
Eliminated
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  1. Alaska

  2. Colorado

  3. Delaware

  4. District of Columbia

  5. Hawaii

  6. Maine

  7. Maryland

  8. New Hampshire

  9. Oregon

  10. Rhode Island

  11. Tennessee

  12. Vermont

  13. Washington

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  1. California

  2. Kansas

  3. South Carolina

  4. Virginia

Under Phase Out
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  1. Connecticut

  2. Georgia

  3. Illinois

  4. Minnesota

  5. Nevada

  6. New York

Legislation Pending
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Advocates push for fair pay for those with disabilities

 

Georgia is among the states that still allow qualifying employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage.

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Author: 11alive.com

Published: 12:49 PM EST February 22, 2024

Updated: 12:49 PM EST February 22, 2024

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Ending Subminimum Wages in Georgia

Watch our webinar series below on

Advocating for State Policy Changes Through Coalition-Building and Community Organizing

Webinar recorded on May 13, 2022​​

  • Speaker(s): Stacey Ramirez, Founding Partner of Crimminz & Associates

  • About: This webinar will discuss ways all stakeholders can advocate for the phasing out of subminimum wages in Georgia. Participants will learn about the importance and strategies of coalition-building and community organizing to advance competitive integrated employment for all Georgians who experience disabilities. This final webinar will pave a path for us to band together to create a powerful collaboration of people who can advocate for change at the state level. We will also explore the legalities of supporting policies for employees of the state.

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Challenging the Arguments for Continuing Subminimum Wages in Georgia

Webinar recorded on May 3, 2022

  • Speaker(s): Aarti Sahgal, Founder & CEO of Synergies Work

  • About: As a mother of a young man with intellectual and developmental disabilities and a professional building inclusive communities and workforce strategies for individuals with disabilities, Aarti Sahgal will discuss in this webinar how people with disabilities are productive members of their communities and have rights to pay that is congruent with their peers without disabilities. Ms. Sahgal will speak to common arguments for continuing subminimum wages and how she has observed people in the community thriving when they have access to real employment opportunities.

Reviewing Subminimum Wages in Georgia: Comprehending the Past to Change the Future

Webinar recorded on April 27, 2022​​

  • Speaker(s): Julie Kegley, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney and Program Director & Cheri Mitchell, Advocate and Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Coordinator, Georgia Advocacy Office

  • About: Building from Doug Crandell's discussion of the history and status of subminimum wages at the federal level, this webinar will discuss the status of 14c at the State of Georgia level. We will talk about the many Georgians with disabilities who still are being paid subminimum wages and the reasons behind this fact. We will review advocacy efforts of the past to end subminimum wages in Georgia and current challenges to eliminating it.  

DignityPay

From Subminimum Wage Employment to Competitive Integrated Employment: One Georgian’s Story

Kathy Tilley and Ruth Tilley

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After decades of being in a sheltered workshop and receiving subminimum wages, Kathy Tilley is currently working at her local YMCA in South Georgia. Her mother, Ruth Tilley, also shares her initial concerns about her daughter leaving the workshop and provides advice for parents.

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Story
Time

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Photos credit: Jessica Whitley Photography

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