Woonsocket Radio News Room

House votes to repeal bill allowing subminimum wages for disabled workers

 

STATE HOUSE – The House today voted to repeal a law that allows employers to pay workers with disabilities below the minimum wage.

The legislation (2022-H 7511) to repeal the law, sponsored by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, eliminates a practice that resulted in a federal Department of Justice lawsuit against Rhode Island over the rights of intellectually or developmentally disabled Rhode Islanders. In 2014, the state entered a settlement that, among other things, ended the use of sheltered workshops where disabled individuals in day programs performed work for wages significantly below the minimum wage. However, the state law allowing subminimum wage for disabled people remains on the books.

“Disabled individuals are entitled to the same rights, protections and dignity as all Rhode Islanders, and they should be protected by our minimum wage laws. While I’m relieved that state day programs for the disabled stopped engaging in this practice a few years ago, there’s no excuse for any law that allows anyone to take advantage of disabled people and pay them less than other workers. We must repeal this law to ensure that no one abuses disabled Rhode Islanders in this way ever again,” said Speaker Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick).

According to the Rhode Island Developmental Disabilities Council, laws that allow disabled workers to be paid subminimum wages have been used to control, dehumanize, and segregate people with disabilities. In Rhode Island and other states, they led to the use of “sheltered workshops,” places where disabled workers are paid pennies on the dollar in a segregated setting, while companies profit.

Such workshops were used in state programs for the disabled until the 2014 agreement with the Justice Department, which had sued the state to end them because they interfere with the federally guaranteed right of disabled individuals to be served in the most integrated setting possible.

The legislation is cosponsored by House Deputy Majority Whip Mia A. Ackerman (D-Dist. 45, Cumberland, Lincoln), Rep. David A. Bennett (D-Dist. 20, Warwick, Cranston), Rep. Joseph M. McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston), Rep. Evan P. Shanley (D-Dist. 24, Warwick), Rep. Mary Duffy Messier (D-Dist. 62, Pawtucket), Rep. Samuel A. Azzinaro (D-Dist. 37, Westerly), House Speaker Pro Tempore Brian Patrick Kennedy (D-Dist. 38, Hopkinton, Westerly), Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-Dist. 27, West Warwick, Coventry, Warwick) and Rep. José F. Batista (D-Dist. 12, Providence). It now goes to the Senate.

 

The head of NATO and President Trump met today at the White House, just 24 hours after Trump pulled the plug on a second summit with Russia's leader. The meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte [[RUH-tuh ]] was announced after a possible summit between Trump and Vladimir Putin was canceled by Trump, who called it a "waste of time." Trump continues to press Putin to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and announced sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies on Wednesday.        The Senate has again rejected a measure that would end the government shutdown. It comes after Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley spoke on the floor for over 22 hours. Senate Democrats refuse to vote for a House funding resolution unless it extends health insurance subsidies used by over 20-million people.        The candidates for New York City mayor are facing off in their final face-to-face debate tonight. Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, Independent Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa are putting forward their competing visions for the future of America's largest city. In the first debate, Mamdani played mostly defense, with the front-runner taking a lot of shots from Cuomo and Sliwa.        North Carolina is passing a new, GOP-friendly congressional map in order to pick up another House seat. It's the latest round in the redistricting battle involving several states. The GOP controls the state's legislature and today, the House passed the measure that would probably give Republicans an advantage in 11 out of 14 House seats from the state, up from the current ten.        New forecasts show the most intense portion of an anticipated atmospheric river expected to hit the Pacific Northwest may have shifted. Light rain is forecast for much of the region Wednesday ahead of a more powerful system with its strongest impacts targeting southern Oregon and Northern California later in the week. For elevations above five-thousand-feet in the Cascade Mountains, snow accumulations could reach two-feet or more in some areas.        Sean "Diddy" Combs is reportedly lucky to be alive following an incident in prison. A longtime friend of Diddy told the Daily Mail that an inmate armed with a shiv snuck into Diddy's cell, with the hip-hop mogul waking up to a knife to his throat. Diddy's lawyer mentioned this incident during the sentencing hearing, saying a guard stopped anything from escalating.       

Old News Archives