The National Federation of the Blind is putting pressure on Goodwill Industries in an effort to end low pay for disabled workers.
A section of the 1938 Fair Standards Labor Act permits employers to pay disabled workers less than federal minimum wage. One of the organizations doing this is Goodwill.
Justin Salsbury of Madison is blind; he has not personally been paid less than minimum wage but knows friends who have. "We want everyone to understand that there is something happening at Goodwill that is unfair, discriminatory and immoral," he says.
Salsbury and others delivered national petitions to local Goodwills asking them to pressure Goodwill International to require its organizations pay more.
Tom Grunder directs workforce development at Goodwill of South Central Wisconsin - one of 4 Goodwill regions in the state. "Basically, out of 165 Goodwills throughout the world, 101 do not use the subminimum wage - which means they pay workers the minimum wage," says Grunder. "So there's 64 Goodwills that use the certificate."
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That certificate means they can pay less than minimum wage. Grunder says on average, workers at the South Central Goodwill are paid $8.25, because they work for businesses in the community with oversight from job coaches. Other Goodwills have what are called "sheltered workshops," where a disabled person often gets paid by the piece and sometimes makes less than minimum wage.
A bill pending in House would phase out subminimum wage. A similar provision in 2011 failed to come up for a vote.
