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Michael Hansen, Director
Rick Scott, Governor
Segregated and ExploitedSegregated and ExploitedPresented by:
J.B. Black, PhD, John Bartow Black ConsultingNancy Boutot, MS, Agency for Persons with Disabilities
Segregated and ExploitedSegregated and Exploited
A call to Action!
The Failure of the Disability Service System to Provide
Quality Work
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National Disability Rights Network
Nonprofit membership organization for the Protection and Advocacy system and the
Client Assistance Program 3
Curtis Decker
“Today, across the United States of America, hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities are being isolated and financially exploited by their employers.”
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Henry’s Turkey Service
The “Bunkhouse” was unheated, boarded up, and it was where Henry’s Turkey Service housed its workers with disabilities.
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A Brief History of Segregated and Sheltered Work
• 1840 – Perkins Institute for the Blind
• 1934 – National Industrial Recovery Act
• 1938 – Fair labor Standards Act
• 1950’s and 1960’s – Sheltered Workshops increase in popularity
• 1963 – Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act)
• 1966 – Public Law 89-601
• 1973 Rehabilitation Act
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The Development of National Community Integration Policy
• 1973 – Rehabilitation Act
• 1984 – Congress amended the DD Act
• 1991 – ADA
• 1998 – Rehabilitation Act Amendments
• 1999 – Ticket to Work
• 1999 - Olmstead
• 2000 – Another DD Act amendment7
Sub-minimum Wage
• 1986 – FSLA amended, removed minimum wage floor for people with disabilities
• Today – Department of Labor, Wage and Hour, is given the authority to issue certificates to employers allowing them to pay less than the prevailing wage to individuals with disabilities.
• A study in 1998, 89.3% of people in sheltered workshops earned less than minimum wage.
• In 1999, the average wage of people in sheltered workshops was $2.64 an hour
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Segregation of People with Disabilities is Damaging
• Allows for little contact with those working in the community.
• Predicated on misguided beliefs that it is perfectly acceptable to marginalize people.
• Echo's the idea behind “ugly-laws” (in existence until the early 1970’s).
• Denies people from the opportunity to make meaningful job choices
• Limits people’s capacity to live full, rich lives as active tax paying citizens.
• Assumes a person is incapable of making choices.
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Reinforces a Life of Poverty
• Dependent on family and government programs just to meet basic needs
• Denies people opportunities to further education, go on vacations, explore hobbies
• Once in the system, almost impossible to get out
• Circular system – responsible for creating a permanent dependence on benefits
• Those who receive housing, food, etc. from their employer often are charged fees
• Some sheltered workshops are also representative payees
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Sheltered Workshops Lead Nowhere
• Not a transition point, rather a dead end
• Prepare people for long-term sheltered employment
• Getting ready for work becomes a lifetime activity
• Frequent periods of inactivity
• Training has nothing to do with interests
• Low challenge work
• Non transferable skills
• Best employees kept for contract fulfillment
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Wage and Hour Time Study Issues
• Must be performed the way industry does the job
• Are shelter programs how industry works?
• Individuals working in shelter programs $175/month – same skill individuals in community $456/month
• Involves an eventual estimate of productive
• Are segregated programs reviewed fairly by the Department of Labor?
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Selective Comparison of States and Shelter Programs
• Vermont – No sheltered programs with state funding
• Washington State – high % working, legislation for employment first
• Alabama – minimal sheltered, approximately 4,600 individual in day programs, minimal follow-along funding, no emphasis yet from DD agency (5% receiving SE among day services)
• Georgia – third year of individuals budgets: NOW and COMP Waivers, minimal emphasis, growing transition
• Florida – you tell me
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End Segregated Employment and Sub-Minimum Wage
• Restrict all federal money going into SE/SMW
• Discontinue offering sub-minimum wage certificates
• Forbid federal statutes/regulations that move youth into SE/SMW
• Modify federal and state contracts to not go to those who use SE/SMW
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Promote & Facilitate Integrated and Comparable Wage Alternatives:Congress
• Strengthen existing, and create new incentives through federal tax codes
• Improve/Enhance workforce programs to require greater participation by individuals with disabilities
• IDEA – mandate that transition plans include work preparation
• Create transition coordinator positions under IDEA or Rehab Act reauthorization
• Mandate SE services be funded under the Rehab Act for a min. of 36 months
• Require Medicaid to fund services that will allow those in segregated settings to move into integrated/comparable wage employment
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Promote & Facilitate Integrated and Comparable Wage Alternatives:Department of Education
• Establish new performance indicators by which state VR will be evaluated
# of people who move into competitive/integrated environments
# of IEP meetings VR counselors attend
# of students VR served before individual exited the education system
• Ensure compliance with requirements that VR and special education coordinate and collaborate systems for transition
• Ensure that there are appropriate programs that will prepare students with disabilities for competitive employment
• Provide funding to P&A and CAP programs focused on transition to employment advocacy
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Promote & Facilitate Integrated and Comparable Wage Alternatives: States
• Increase state funding for:
Person-centered planning
Employment supports
Customized and self-employment
• Created policies to encourage hiring within government
• Create tax codes to strengthen and create incentives for hiring
• Use Medicaid for Employment First initiatives
• Fund short-term workforce programs such as internships and apprenticeships
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Increase Labor Protections & Enforcement: Congress
• Increase funding for P&A and CAP to investigate abuses in segregated environments
• Increase funding for Wage and Hour – oversee wage and hour laws
• Increase penalties for violations to Section 14(c)
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Increase Labor Protections & Enforcement: Dept. of Labor
• Require segregated, sub-minimum wage paying employers to report to DOL:
Wages
Progress
Attempts to move to integrated environments
Reasons why progress not made
• Require sub-min. wage certificate evaluations by third party evaluator
• Increase enforcement of federal employment laws:
ODEP, Wage and Hour and Office of federal Contract compliance to collaborate and work together
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Conclusion
• Many people in sheltered settings don’t think there is another way
• Millions of people with disabilities are living successfully in their communities. That needs to happen in the workplace
• It’s time to do things differently
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