It’s hard to believe, but in 2025, it’s still legal in the U.S. to pay workers with disabilities far less than the minimum wage—some disabled workers are earning just five cents an hour. That’s because of a nearly 90-year-old provision in federal law known as 14(c), which allows employers to pay disabled workers a fraction of the hourly wage based on perceived low productivity.
Originally intended as a temporary on-ramp to employment, today, 14(c) is often a dead end for too many, and the policy fails to foster opportunity or embrace the full potential of workers with disabilities.
A recent Bloomberg article by Josh Eidelson (and related podcast) reveals the harsh reality of 14(c) employment, which includes “time studies” and stopwatches, and how a person’s wage can hinge on how fast they do a certain task under the gaze of a manager with a timer. It’s a humiliating and outdated approach, and it’s something Melwood voluntarily stopped doing years ago because it was inconsistent with our values and our belief in our workforce. From the Bloomberg story:
Melwood CEO Larysa Kautz says the nonprofit pulled off the transition without firing any employees. Abolishing time studies made workers more productive, she says, and paying the minimum wage (or better) forced management to think more creatively to find higher-margin lines of business. “We went from shredding to scanning,” she says. “You have to look at your business model. You have to make sure that you’re not just stuck in your ways.” The nonprofit provides accommodations to help staff succeed in all sorts of roles—including its chair, Brad Spencer, who has a brain injury but mitigates his short-term memory loss by having an adviser sometimes remind him midconversation about what’s been said.
Read the full story:
Listen to the podcast (no paywall):
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2025-04-24/big-take-the-battle-over-subminimum-wage-podcast
