Goodwill: Pays some disable employes pennies an hour

[Aroura33]

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/20 ... legal?lite
And other organizations as well.

One of the nation's best-known charities is paying disabled workers as little as 22 cents an hour, thanks to a 75-year-old legal loophole that critics say needs to be closed.



Goodwill Industries, a multibillion-dollar company whose executives make six-figure salaries, is among the nonprofit groups permitted to pay thousands of disabled workers far less than minimum wage because of a federal law known as Section 14 (c). Labor Department records show that some Goodwill workers in Pennsylvania earned wages as low as 22, 38 and 41 cents per hour in 2011.

When a non-profit provides Section 14 (c) workers to an outside business, it sets the salary and pays the wages. For example, the Helen Keller National Center, a New York school for the blind and deaf, has a special wage certificate and has placed students in a Westbury, N.Y., Applebee's franchise. The employees' pay ranged from $3.97 per hour to $5.96 per hour in 2010. The franchise told NBC News it has also hired workers at minimum wage from Helen Keller. A spokesperson for Applebee's declined to comment on Section 14 (c).

Helen Keller also placed several students at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Manhasset, N.Y., in 2010, where they earned $3.80 and $4.85 an hour. A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman defended the Section 14 (c) program as providing jobs to "people who would otherwise not have [the opportunity to work]."

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."

Harold Leigland, however, said he feels that Goodwill can pay him a low wage because the company knows he has few other places to go. "We are trapped," he said. "Everybody who works at Goodwill is trapped."

 :shock:

[aitm]

:-s   what the mother fucking fuck...

[wolf39us]

This is a bunch of shit.  I want to know why these employees are still working at a place that only pays $0.22/hr.  You can't live on that nor should you try.  As far as the lower wages for Apple Bees and what not, they should also be forced to pay employees proper wages.  This "tipped wage" shit is fucking stupid.  And STOP "sharing" tips!  If you get a tip, it's cause you did your job well... People should be allowed to give a server additional money for THEM!

[Plu]

"Charity".

[Jmpty]

This is going to end badly for the disabled people doing these jobs. They don't rely on these jobs for their living, for the most part. They do this to feel useful, and productive. If these programs end, these jobs will end.
People in prison work for 25 cents an hour, and it's not a non profit situation. Why no uproar about this?

[Solitary]

Every time I hear or read something really stupid it involves money in some way.  :roll:  Solitary

[AllPurposeAtheist]

This isn't news. Goodwill has been doing this shit for years and is the reason I won't work for them.
A friend here got 'a job' as a 'sales associate' in a Goodwill store. It turned out to be an unpaid internship. He quit a paid job for the 'opportunity'.
I won't shop at any Goodwill stores. It's a scam I've known about for 40 years at least.

[the_antithesis]

These employees must be getting supplements to their income by some means because no one could live on twenty cents an hour these days. It's not 1886 anymore. A wage that low is insane. Better to have no job than that job. A job that pays that low is not worth having. You could spend the time you have at that job getting a real job that pays money instead of an insult.

When I first saw this thread, I though it was about the mentally disabled that live in group homes who are cared for by the state. So all of their food and housing is paid for by government money. Not sure about clothing, but maybe. But many of them have jobs and earn wages, but have no expenses. So what are they going to spend that money on?

Answer: stupid shit. That's what.

[Plu]

This is going to end badly for the disabled people doing these jobs. They don't rely on these jobs for their living, for the most part. They do this to feel useful, and productive. If these programs end, these jobs will end.
People in prison work for 25 cents an hour, and it's not a non profit situation. Why no uproar about this?

These people are being paid a joke wage while in the employ of a huge corporation. They're basically being exploited. And you're acting like these people can't be productive without being extorted for 20 cents an hour.

If they want to work, they could just go out and do volunteer work. At least they'll be doing something useful.

(And prisoners get full room and board, and have basically no expenses at all, and also kinda owe it to themselves to be trapped in such a shitty situation in the first place.)

[Jmpty]

This is going to end badly for the disabled people doing these jobs. They don't rely on these jobs for their living, for the most part. They do this to feel useful, and productive. If these programs end, these jobs will end.
People in prison work for 25 cents an hour, and it's not a non profit situation. Why no uproar about this?

These people are being paid a joke wage while in the employ of a huge corporation. They're basically being exploited. And you're acting like these people can't be productive without being extorted for 20 cents an hour.

If they want to work, they could just go out and do volunteer work. At least they'll be doing something useful.

(And prisoners get full room and board, and have basically no expenses at all, and also kinda owe it to themselves to be trapped in such a shitty situation in the first place.)

Bullshit. ALL of these people are receiving disability payments, and if they are seriously disabled, live in a facility paid for by the govt., or in section 8 housing, if they can live on their own. I was approached by an organization that finds jobs for the disabled when I ran a business. They offered the people at a very low wage, and with a tax break. I had to pass, because the their level of impairment was such that it would not have been feasible to have them there. To pay someone 2 dollars an hour to sort a box of hangers, which could take four or five hours, as opposed to 15 minutes by a regular employee, not to mention the liability implications for them, and customers, made it a no go. Goodwill takes that risk and responsibility, and they should be applauded, not demonized.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Bullshit jumpy. Goodwill is in the exploitation business. Most people working there do NOT receive disability payment and many receive nothing at all from Uncle Sugar. I know several guys working there now. Most have applied for disability, but haven't received anything. They get in the cycle of, 'If I earn to much I won't get disability and I need SOME money to survive on.' Getting disability often takes years to be approved and if Uncle Sugar even thinks your capable of working a full time job you're screwed and many aren't capable of working because of age, physical limitations or.mental disability

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Phone messed up..
Come hang out in homeless shelters jmpty. You might actually learn how rigged the system really is instead of hearing about it at the local tavern.

[Aroura33]

It can take years to get disability, if ever. Took me 3years, during which I was basically homeless and living on 60 bucks a month for food.

Also, disability is based either on your prior income, or if you never had any, minimum wage. You get a percentage of one of those. Most disabled people get 400 to 500 a month, that is hardly enough to live on. Certainly those living at home, or in a home, that may be sufficient, but what about those who are capable of self care, but not full time regular employment? Such as the blind or amputees? They need to earn just as much as you to live, and disability rarely covers it all. If a disabled person needs to supliment disability, or earn a full income, they are SOL.

And some would defend paying a blind person pennies per hour because they work slower? Hey, lets time everyone everywhere in every job, the way they time the disabled people, and base your wages on that. Then if you are not as fast as other people in your company, they can pay YOU less, even though you are doing the same job. Sound fair? Have a headache that day? Too bad, your wages are now halved for the next 6 months.
It would be barbaric to do it to "normal" people, right? Pay them less than minimum wage if they are not at peek performance? Then why is it ok to do it to those already suffering a disability?

[rickcopeland648]

Phone messed up..
Come hang out in homeless shelters jmpty. You might actually learn how rigged the system really is instead of hearing about it at the local tavern.

Assuming you've spent some time in homeless shelter's (and The Rick Copeland is aware you have had some housing problems), he has a quickie question or two for you:
1) How do you get a job when you don't have a residence to put in the address box or you don't have a phone as a contact?
2) How do you clean yourself up for an interview and what do you wear?

[AllPurposeAtheist]

You can use any address you like including the shelter. Phones are cheap and easy to obtain and here in Columbus all shelters have showers and laundry facilities and easy access to free clothing through charitable organizations.