The Biden administration’s grand plan to abolish the ability for employers to remunerate disabled workers with subpar wages has been unceremoniously discontinued as of last week, as stated by the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department. This scheme, proposed in late 2020, intended to shun all fresh certifications permitting businesses to pay handicapped employees lesser than the standard wages from its inauguration day. It also planned to nullify any existing authorizations progressively over three years.
The official word from the department is that the proposal and its subsequent steps have been permanently terminated from further evaluation. However, one can’t help but wonder if there are ulterior motives at play here. The initiative to cease the process of rule-making is viewing the withdrawal with auditious perplexity.
Because of this abrupt about-face, the status quo of Section 14(c) pertaining to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act continues unimpeded. This section, comfortably nestled within the legacy law, allows the department to provide endorsements empowering employers to remunerate their disabled workforce less than the federally mandated minimum wage.
As of now, the federal minimum wage remains at a paltry $7.25 per hour. But under the Biden administration’s proposal, employers presumably had more resources and training to uplift, employ, and retain disabled workers at wages equivalent to or higher than the full minimum wage. However, such wishful thinking has been abruptly brought to a halt, clearly illustrating the current administration’s lack of commitment to disabled individuals.
The official rationalization provided by the department for withdrawing the scheme is a concerningly passive message; the department confessed to a lack of statutory authority to independently and permanently shuck off the issuance of Section 14(c) licenses. Such an admission raises critical questions about the power-play dynamics within the department and the administration at large.
The department further justified its withdrawal by citing Section 14(c)’s supposed mandatory obligation on the department to continue providing subminimum wage certificates. It raises profound concerns about whether the Biden administration can conceive of policies without resorting to the status quo.
Data from the department points to a reduction in the usage of such certificates, dropping from about 424,000 employees in 2001 to an almost negligible count of 40,579 by 2024. However, the administration displays a glaringly stubborn stance, insisting that a decline in usage does not spell the end for its necessity.
In stark contrast to the Biden Administration, several states through their respective legislative bodies have taken the bold step of terminating the payment of below-the-bar wages to handicapped individuals. This reveals a robust precedent for prioritizing human rights and dignity, something the Biden administration seems hesitant to uphold.
The Labor Department’s defensive stance, stating that the end of subminimum wage provisions by some states doesn’t imply a lack of need for such arrangements, is sigh-inducing in its inability to read the room. The suggestion is that those states have chosen to prioritize a fair minimum wage, even at the risk of masking employment flexibility for disabled individuals.