[THE COMMENT DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO DEC. 12. Go to www.regulations.gov.]
November 12, 2021
Jeffrey A. Koses
Chairperson
United States AbilityOne Commission
1401 S. Clark Street, Suite 715
Arlington, VA 22202
RE: RIN 3037-AA16 Prohibition on the Payment of Subminimum Wages Under 14(c) Certificates as a Qualification for Participation as a Nonprofit Agency Under the Javits Wagner O’Day Program
Dear Chairperson Koses:
Not Dead Yet is a national disability rights group that focuses on healthcare policies that are commonly referred to as “end of life.” All too often, these policies involve ending the lives of people with disabilities based on quality-of-life judgments. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the recently published notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) titled Prohibition on the Payment of Subminimum Wages Under 14(c) Certificates as a Qualification for Participation as a Nonprofit Agency Under the Javits Wagner O’Day Program.
Not Dead Yet has joined with leading disability organizations like the National Federation of the Blind, Autistic Self Advocacy Network and others that have been consistent and vocal advocates for the elimination of the Section 14(c) special wage certificate program. As an organization concerned with the ways in which society undermines the economic security of disabled people, we are pleased to have been a part of the fight to ensure that people with disabilities receive the training, support, and ultimately the opportunity to obtain competitive integrated employment. We are also pleased to see the growing recognition that the Section 14(c) program represents a harmful and wrongful devaluation of disabled people.
Not Dead yet strongly supports the NPRM in prohibiting nonprofit agencies from paying subminimum wages on AbilityOne contracts. Moving forward with this rulemaking will send a strong message that the federal government neither supports nor condones the practice of paying less than the minimum wage to employees with disabilities.
As the NPRM states, the “costs of requiring . . . [nonprofit agencies] wishing to maintain their qualification in the AbilityOne Program to certify that they will not pay subminimum wages under a section 14(c) certificate on contracts are not substantial and are outweighed by the benefits.” Analyzing the data, the NPRM states that the proposed rule will mean increased wages for 674 employees out of approximately 42,000 individuals with disabilities employed at AbilityOne nonprofit agencies. Paying fair wages to less than 700 employees with disabilities scattered all across the country will not be a hardship on any single nonprofit agency, especially when similar organizations working with similar populations are already actively employing workers with disabilities without the use of a subminimum wage certificate.
Additionally, we believe that the logical next step for these nonprofit agencies and the individuals with disabilities they employ would be to transition those individuals into competitive integrated employment.
We thank the AbilityOne Commission for taking up such an important topic and moving toward long overdue change to enhance the lives of people with disabilities.
Sincerely,
Diane Coleman, JD
President & CEO