Fair-Wages for People With Disabilities: Barriers and Facilitators

Abstract

Subminimum wage is a prominent and problematic issue affecting the lives of many people with disabilities. For this reason, the aim of this study was to identify the correlates of fair-wages (at least minimum wage) for people with disabilities—which factors facilitate and hinder people with disabilities’ access to fair-wages. We utilized Personal Outcome Measures® interview data from approximately 1,500 people with disabilities to examine how individual, employment, and organizational-level factors correlate with people with disabilities’ access to fair-wages. Binary logistic regression models revealed at the individual-level support needs, guardianship, and residence type all significantly correlate with people with disabilities’ odds of receiving fair-wages. In addition, the ability to experience a number of employment options, as well as decide where to work, produce higher odds of having fair-wages. Finally, our findings also revealed the key role service organizations can play in facilitating people with disabilities’ access to fair-wages. Attention to the facilitators that promote access to fair-wages for people with disabilities, and the barriers that hinder this access is one of the first steps toward ending this discrimination against people with disabilities.

State-Level Analysis of Subminimum Wage Use for Individuals With Disabilities in the United States: Implications for Policy and Practice

“…This erroneous notion has repeatedly been questioned by empirical research, demonstrating that even individuals with the most significant support needs can work in competitive community jobs when individualized employment supports and services are provided (Schall et al, 2020;Wehman et al, 2018Wehman et al, , 2019. In addition, subminimum wage practices place individuals with disabilities in a cycle of poverty that reduces their independence (Friedman & Rizzolo, 2020). Nevertheless, 14(c) certificates continue to be actively issued across the United States, paying individuals with disabilities subminimum wages and falsely communicating to the community at large that their work is less valued than their peers without disabilities.…”

“…U.S. policy efforts have made substantial progress eliminating discriminatory practices toward individuals with disabilities in a number of major life domains but have yet to comprehensively end 14(c) subminimum wage employment practices (Friedman & Rizzolo, 2020). Major milestones in the continuing quest for civil rights include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), the Olmstead Decision (1999), and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014.…”

Worth Less? Exploring the Effects of Subminimum Wages on Poverty among U.S. Hourly Workers

“…But there are far more disabled workers in the competitive low-wage sector earning subminimum wages who are not subject to waivers. Situating the assignment of subminimum wages in the broader low-wage or minimum wage sector sheds light on how some groups are disproportionately affected by these practices because of their status and where they are located in the labor market (Friedman and Rizzolo 2020).…”

The Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development: Advancing Decent Work, Inclusivity, and Positive Strength-Based Primary Preventive Interventions for Vulnerable Workers

“…Third, positive strength-based primary preventive interventions on vulnerable workers that neglect the relational aspects of work could have a poor outcome, too. Relational aspects in the workplace are threatened for vulnerable workers, being at risk of various forms of discrimination, for example, racism (e.g., Storer et al, 2020 ; Rosander and Blomberg, 2021 ), sexism (e.g., Crewe and Wang, 2018 ; Velez et al, 2018 ), and exclusion ( Cox, 2020 ; Friedman and Rizzolo, 2020 ). To prevent these phenomena, positive healthy organizations comprise workplace relational civility (i.e., relational decency, relational culture, and relational readiness) to strengthen positive interactions in organizational groups and reduce conflict in organizations ( Di Fabio and Gori, 2016a ).…”