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TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF SECTION 14(c) OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938 TO PAY SUBMINIMUM WAGES TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.
Whereas, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 authorizes employers, after receiving a certificate from the United States Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, to pay special minimum wages that are less than the federal minimum wage to workers who have disabilities, for the work being performed; and
Whereas, Section 14(c)(1) defines a "worker with a disability" as an individual whose earning or productive capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental deficiency, or injury; and
Whereas, in 2020, more than two thousand nine hundred South Carolinians with disabilities were employed in settings in which they could be paid a subminimum wage; and
Whereas, South Carolina continues to have one of the highest unemployment rates for persons with disabilities in the country. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Employers, community rehabilitation programs, and hospital patient care workers at regional centers shall not use Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to pay disabled employees a subminimum wage. No individual with a disability may be paid less than the federal minimum wage.
SECTION 2. This joint resolution takes effect on August 1, 2024.
This web page was last updated on February 9, 2021 at 12:25 PM