The 14(c) program in Delaware is coming to an end by early next year.
The phase-out aims to give people with disabilities fair and equal employment opportunities.
Subminimum wage was added to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1986, allowing individuals with disabilities to earn less than the federal or state minimum wage. It was intended to provide an expanded range of employment options, but state lawmakers say the program only holds people down.
The General Assembly passed House Bill 122 in June 2021. State Rep. Debra Heffernan’s bill mandated a phased elimination of subminimum wage employment by January 2024.
“It’s regressive and it doesn’t help people with disabilities because it's a civil rights issue," Heffernan says. "It’s inconsistent with how we treat people with disabilities now.”
A 2020 report issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that the average 14(c) employee earns $3.34 per hour and works 16 hours per week.
“People with disabilities were to maybe get job training in these sheltered workshops, and then they would move to other employment," Heffernan says. "But what would happen instead was that a lot of employees would stay in those sheltered workshops for years and years and years, sometimes their whole career.”
Twelve states have already phased out the 14(c) program, with 13 others, including Delaware, in the process of doing so.
Heffernan says lawmakers passed a phased approach to provide more time for planning and creating equal opportunities for people with disabilities.
The state’s Employment First Oversight Commission will hold a series of public forums for families to review and comment on Delaware’s phase-out plan starting Tuesday, July 11.