TASH, along with 16 other disability organizations, urged the Senate to drop Section 511 from the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization. As stated in the letter, Section 511 “remains a misguided attempt to improve employment for people with disabilities that will instead strengthen and give legitimacy to the flawed subminimum wage system. This policy proposal is being advanced despite strong objections from the community it is meant to serve. The language in Section 511 links the Rehabilitation Act, which was established to assist people with disabilities in obtaining competitive integrated employment, with Section 14(c) of the FLSA, which is based on the false premise that people with disabilities cannot be competitively employed and therefore can be paid subminimum wages.”
The Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitative Services (CSAVR) collaborated with APSE, the Autism Self Advocacy Network, TASH and other organizations to urge the Senate to take this Section out of the proposed legislation.