As debate over sheltered workshops heats up, MO doubles down on paying people with disabilities less

[TexasTowelie]

A new Missouri law allowing employers to continue paying some people with disabilities less than minimum wage has positioned the state at the forefront of a national debate over disability rights in the workplace.

Part of a wide-ranging piece of legislation signed by Gov. Mike Parson in July, the rule directs the state to develop its own version of a federal program that allows wages as low as pennies per hour.

Roughly 5,000 employees work at facilities with subminimum wage certificates in Missouri – called sheltered workshops because workers are kept separate from others. Missouri has the second-highest number of sheltered workshops in the country, with 95 operating locations.

Though the New Deal-era law that governs such employment was considered progressive when it was enacted, it has come under increasing criticism in recent years.

Read more: https://thebeacon.media/stories/2021/11/24/sheltered-workshops-missouri-bill/
(Kansas City Beacon)

[janterry]

1. One of my first jobs was in a shelted workshop, many years ago

My rooms (I supervised staff in two rooms) included people with dual-dx (all were profoundly cognitively challenged and most had a secondary mental health dx). The other rooms did not have both dx (just cognitive challenges).

They worked very slowly and often needed a great deal of assistance to do any kind of work. Some of the clients LOVED working. It gave them a sense of pride. Others - well. They didn't. But they had a lot of physical acting out (we had a fair number of aggressive clients).

I'm sure these places have improved over the years and there are more programs for those that don't fit into this model (I did this a very long time ago).

But just to put out there - our 'fastest workers' (and they were not in my room) came nowhere near the independence or productivity of people who were not disabled. Most of them lived in group homes, got full SSI, and used the money they earned as spending money on the weekends.

If those workers DID make minimum wage, I assume it would threaten their SSI.