A bill that will prohibit employers from paying workers with disabilities less than the California minimum wage and transition workers with disabilities to competitive, integrated employment took effect on Jan. 1.

Senate Bill 639, authored by Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), was sponsored by Disability Rights California, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and Legal Aid at Work. California joins Alaska, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon and Texas in outlawing paying workers with disabilities a subminimum wage.

“California is ending the subminimum wage for people with disabilities,” Durazo said. “All work should be treated with dignity, and that means that nobody is paid less than the minimum wage. SB 639 develops a phaseout plan to ensure a path to competitive, integrated employment for these workers. I applaud Gov. [Gavin] Newsom for recognizing the injustice that workers with disabilities are facing and remedying this clear violation of their civil rights.”

Since 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act has given California employers the ability to apply for a certificate that allows them to pay employees with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The certificate was intended to provide opportunities for employment for World War I veterans with disabilities, but instead created segregated workplaces, Durazo said. Now, the unemployment rate of persons with disabilities is twice as high as other workers, she added.

What has actually materialized under FLSA is a pool of highly exploited labor, as more than 5,000 Californians with disabilities are currently working in sheltered workshops and are being paid as little as $2 per hour, Durazo said.

Sheltered workshops have morphed into full-scale operations to primarily employ persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities in segregated settings, the senator said. Beyond the FLSA, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 made it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers who had disabilities. Yet, sheltered workshops remain in operation, and the economic opportunities for people with disabilities continue to erode. SB 639 phases out sheltered workshops, develops a path to integrated employment and ensures workers with disabilities earn no less than the California minimum wage.

“By ending the discriminatory practice of paying people with disabilities less than the federally-protected minimum wage, Governor Newsom has helped California reassert its role as a national leader in disability rights and worker rights,” said Andy Imparato, executive director of Disability Rights California.

Aaron Carruthers, executive director of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities said that, approximately 100 years ago, “it was seen as compassionate” to pay people with disabilities lower wages.

“But times changed, views of what is possible for people with disabilities changed and options changed,” he said. “With the governor’s signature, people who were once trapped in sheltered workshops will now be able to design a truly meaningful day.”