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Advocates are pushing to end lower wages for disabled workers. Some families are opposed.

December 17, 2024

Published by USA Today

By Karissa Waddick

Jewelyn Cosgrove, vice president of government and public relations at Melwood, a nonprofit that employs more than 300 people with disabilities in Maryland, views the subminimum wage as “codified, disparate treatment” for the disabled community. Melwood once paid many of its employees under the lower wage provision but transitioned away around 2016 after hearing feedback from workers that the ”time trial” process it used to calculate wages was dehumanizing, Cosgrove said. Read the full story on USA Today

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