Goodwill pays disabled workers 3 cents an hour

[SuckOnThis]

And this is what happens when companies are allowed to bypass minimum wage laws.


A national charity whose executives earn six-figure salaries used a legal loophole to pay disabled workers as little as three and four cents an hour, according to documents obtained exclusively by NBC News.

An NBC News investigation recently revealed that Goodwill Industries, which is among the non-profit groups permitted to pay disabled workers far less than minimum wage because of a federal law known as Section 14 (c), had paid workers as little as 22 cents an hour.

Now newly obtained federal documents show that at least 13 Goodwill franchises in 10 states paid 140 workers even less.

According to Department of Labor filings acquired via the Freedom of Information Act, two Goodwill franchises in Fort Worth, Texas paid 51 employees less than 10 cents an hour in 2011, with 14 earning just four cents an hour for tasks described as ?assembly.?

Franchises in Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia also paid employees 21 cents or less between 2008 and 2011, according to the documents. One franchise in Fairfield, Ohio paid a worker just three cents an hour for hanging clothes in 2008.

?The results of your FOIA request reinforce that people with disabilities are devalued in this situation and the operators of these programs are not keeping pace with the times,? said Clyde Terry of the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency that advises the White House and Congress on disability policy.

?This may have been appropriate in the 1930s,? said Terry, ?but in this day and age with the advances of technology, health care and education, is this the best we can do??

A spokesperson for Goodwill International Industries countered that it was "misleading" to "cherrypick" low wages, calling them "extraordinary situations."

Section 14 (c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was passed in 1938, allows employers to obtain special minimum wage certificates from the Department of Labor. The certificates give employers the right to pay disabled workers according to their abilities, with no bottom limit to the wage.

Most, but not all, special wage certificates are held by non-profit organizations like Goodwill that then set up their own so-called "sheltered workshops" for disabled employees, where participants typically perform manual tasks like hanging clothes.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_n...ennies-an-hour

[MagicWand]

did you get to keep your job?

[SuckOnThis]

Originally Posted by MagicWand

did you get to keep your job?

You've mistaken me for your daddy.

[k0nr4d]

I suspect they aren't giving the full story here...in PL for instance you pay the workers medical and retirement fund stuff based on the salary you are paying him, so they might be paying out cash or something and putting some BS super tiny wage on paper to pay less of that.

[Dankasaur]

Originally Posted by k0nr4d

I suspect they aren't giving the full story here...in PL for instance you pay the workers medical and retirement fund stuff based on the salary you are paying him, so they might be paying out cash or something and putting some BS super tiny wage on paper to pay less of that.

That's illegal in the US.

[Captain Kawaii]

The 'religious right' are neither.

[candyflip]

Goodwill is NOT a charity. It is a business run by a greedy fuck who named the company Goodwill in order to make people like you think they're a charity.

Mission Accomplished

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by candyflip

Goodwill is NOT a charity. It is a business run by a greedy fuck who named the company Goodwill in order to make people like you think they're a charity.

Mission Accomplished

they are non profit. they really help the community. they also turn a profit. when i worked there never saw 3 cents an hour thats bullshit

[Dankasaur]

Originally Posted by candyflip

Goodwill is NOT a charity. It is a business run by a greedy fuck who named the company Goodwill in order to make people like you think they're a charity.

Mission Accomplished

[L-Pink]

Originally Posted by candyflip

Goodwill is NOT a charity. It is a business run by a greedy fuck who named the company Goodwill in order to make people like you think they're a charity.

Mission Accomplished

Goodwill currently rents or pays to have constructed new locations with prime retail lease payments.

[k0nr4d]

Originally Posted by Dankasaur

That's illegal in the US.

It's illegal here too, but people still do it. If you had to pay $5k salary + another $2,5k in insurances and taxes for that employee (that's what it comes out to here) they suddenly have to be MUCH more efficient workers.

[rogueteens]

American charities have franchises? WOW, money really IS king there then?

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Lots of good deals at the Goodwill:

Goodwill Industries International has been criticized by some for using a provision of federal labor law to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. Under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, organizations can obtain a "special wage certificate" to pay workers with disabilities a commensurate wage based on performance evaluations.

7,300 of Goodwill's 105,000 employees are paid under the special wage certificate program. The National Federation of the Blind considers it "unfair, discriminatory, and immoral." Other disability rights advocates have defended Goodwill's use of the special wage certificate to employ workers with disabilities. Terry Farmer, CEO of ACCSES, a trade group that calls itself the "voice of disability service providers," said scrapping the provision could "force [disabled workers] to stay at home," enter rehabilitation, "or otherwise engage in unproductive and unsatisfactory activities."

Goodwill believes that the policy is "a tool to create employment for people with disabilities" who would not otherwise be employed. Goodwill notes that "Eliminating it would remove an important tool for employers and an employment option available to people with severe disabilities and their families. Without the law, many people with disabilities could lose their jobs."

Goodwill has urged Congress to "support legislation that would strengthen the FLSA and increase its enforcement," and to "preserve opportunities for people with disabilities who would otherwise lose the chance to realize the many tangible and intangible benefits of work."

A 2013 FLSA fact sheet from Goodwill states that "Without FLSA Section 14(c), many more people with severe disabilities would experience difficulty in participating in the workforce. These jobs provide individuals with paychecks that they would be unlikely to receive otherwise, as well as ongoing services and support, job security, and the opportunity for career advancement."

A 2013 article on Watchdog.org reported that Goodwill's tax returns showed that more than 100 Goodwills pay less than minimum wage, while simultaneously paying more than $53.7 million in total compensation to top executives.

The former CEO of the Goodwill of Southern California was the highest paid Goodwill executive in the country. He received more than $1.1 million in total compensation. "In 2011, the Columbia Willamette Goodwill, one of the largest in the country, says it paid $922,444 in commensurate wages to approximately 250 people with developmental disabilities. These employees worked 159,584 hours for an average hourly wage of $5.78. The lowest paid worker received just $1.40 per hour."

Most organizations need periodic review and reform due to entrenched career bureaucrats/corrupt workers that find ways to cheat the system.

Overall, I think that the goals of the organization are noble. Having worked with severely mentally and physically disabled people years ago, I know firsthand the great pride that many disabled people feel at being able to work and socialize with others.