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WASHINGTON, D.C. – After the U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday proposed phasing out a program that lets some employers pay disabled workers less than the minimum wage, two Washington lawmakers who have long advocated an end to the program hailed the move.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Spokane Republican, and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray have both pushed for years to eliminate so-called 14© certificates, named after the section of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that allows employers to apply for government approval to pay workers less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
President Joe Biden pledged to end the program as a candidate in 2020, but his administration didn’t issue the proposed rule until the final weeks of his presidency, and the decision will be subject to a monthlong comment period and potential legal challenges. The incoming administration of President- elect Donald Trump will have to evaluate the public comments and decide whether to enact or overturn the new rule.
In a statement on Tuesday, Murray said she hopes Trump will uphold the decision, which has bipartisan support but is opposed by some employers who say ending the subminimum wage program would threaten their ability to employ people with disabilities.
“It’s unacceptable that, for nearly a century, employers have been permitted to pay disabled workers well below the minimum wage for doing the same work as their nondisabled peers,” Murray said. “The subminimum wage is discrimination, plain and simple – this is about people’s dignity and their ability to earn a living and provide for their families.”
If the rule goes into effect, the Labor Department would stop issuing new certificates and would phase out existing ones over a three-year period. In a statement on Wednesday, McMorris Rodgers said lawmakers should pass a bill that would create a more durable end to the low-wage program, rather than changing it through an administrative rule-making process that can be easily reversed.
“While I’m encouraged by the intent of this rule, it’s critical for Congress to pass legislation that permanently bans subminimum wages in America and puts us on a path toward competitive integrated employment,” she said. “Ending this unfair and outdated practice is the only way to provide individuals with disabilities the stability and opportunity for a better life that they deserve.”
While legislation in Congress to end the program has stalled in recent years, state lawmakers in Washington and several other states have acted. Legislators in Olympia passed a bill in 2021 that phased out the certificates by 2023, and some employers voluntarily dropped the program earlier.
Steve McBride, regional vice president at Skils’kin, a nonprofit in Spokane that provides employment and job placement services to people with disabilities, said his organization stopped paying subminimum wages in 2013 and has advocated for the program’s elimination nationwide. While they worried at the time that raising wages could mean employing fewer people, McBride said, that hasn’t happened.
“Now we’ve gone a decade in, and it just didn’t play out that way,” McBride said. “We’ve been able to employ a really diverse workforce with diverse disabilities successfully.
“And we’ve been able to continue to place people in jobs in the Eastern Washington community with a lot of success.” Five employers in Idaho hold 14© certificates, including Tesh, Inc. in Coeur d’Alene. The not-for-profit organization didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, but its leaders have argued in the past that eliminating the subminimum wage program would force them to stop employing disabled people, who are sometimes paid based on their productivity and can earn less than $1 per hour, although employers contend that they provide other valuable services.
McBride said his message to parents and other people who worry about the proposed change is, “Let’s just try.”
“Let’s open the door a little wider,” he said. “This is a great day for people with disabilities, and it should be celebrated.”
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