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The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
Workers with disabilities would not work for less than the minimum wage under a Tennessee bill passed by the Senate.
A companion bill is expected to be heard Wednesday in a House subcommittee.
Senate Bill 2040, dubbed the Tennessee Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act, would go into effect July 1. It prevents employers from paying workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage, which in Tennessee is the federal wage of $7.25 an hour.
“This bill would eliminate usage of a 1938 program that was maybe a good idea at its time,” said Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, the bill’s sponsor. “But I think, over the past 80 years, we have learned and grown more.”
Yarbro said the Trump Administration released a report in 2020 that recommended the federal government and state halt the minimum wage exception for those with disabilities and 10 states already have done so. Yarbro said only two employers in Tennessee have the certification to use the minimum wage exception but did not name them.
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Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, D-Knoxville, supported the bill and said many disability providers used sheltered workshops “many, many years ago.” Massey was the executive director of Knoxville’s Sertoma Center for 25 years and said the agency, which works with adults with intellectual disabilities, went away from those workshops years ago.
A sheltered workshop is a separate site or area where people with disabilities work under different labor standards.
Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, voiced her concerns with the unintended impact of the bill, saying she volunteered at a sheltered workshop and saw the benefits.
“While it appears this bill will pass, there is a concern for me that people who actually enjoyed the piecework and the sheltered workshop and who could not go out into the regular workforce, that we need to pay close attention that we don’t lose the opportunity for these people to be meaningful and going to work in their world and providing some degree of useful work,” said Bowling, who noted she has a degree in special education. “Not just repetitive things that have no function but things that would not qualify as a full-time job for a business or locality.”
The Senate passed the bill, 27-3, on Monday. Yarbro and Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, said they have heard unanimous support for the bill from disability advocacy groups.
“I understand any concerns, but we will work through those and try to make sure that everyone who is disabled in Tennessee has the fullest opportunities that they possibly can,” Yarbro said.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
One Response
I know this bill sounds empathic to this special group of people and it is hard to speak or even think against it. But the issue should not be a legislative one. One of the signature qualifications of a capitalist economy is the freedom to buy and sell and the freedom to set wage rates on the basis of the value of an employee’s contribution to the success of a business. The legislature is not, or should not be, considered a business owner, so where does it get the authority to set wage rates for employees regardless of their status? This is another example of how legislatures have encroached (unwisely) on the freedoms reserved for the people in the 10th Amendment.