Mar 6, 2023
Re-Introduction of the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (TCIEA)
The National Organization on Disability thanks Senator Bob Casey and his colleagues in Congress for reintroducing the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment ACT (TCIEA). NOD has for many years been calling for the end of the subminimum wage for disabled people currently allowed under rule 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. TCIEA would end that practice.
In November 2019, former NOD Chairman Governor Tom Ridge spoke to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on behalf of the National Organization on Disability on the importance of phasing-out 14(c).
Collectively, the NOD Roundtable, comprised of 15 leading disability organizations, and other disability advocates met with many members of Congress for their support of TCIEA. NOD hosted a Congressional Briefing, “Policy Issues Surrounding Employment for Individuals with Disabilities,” highlighting the work of several NOD Board Members, and tying their efforts to the importance of phasing out 14(c).
The NOD Roundtable sent letters to the Administration to request that the Disability Innovation Funds, led by the Department of Education, use their funds to support state Vocation Rehabilitation (VR) agencies to help community providers utilizing 14(c) certificates with the transition of their models to competitive integrated employment offerings for the individuals they serve. In April, RSA took up this call, and the Disability Innovation Funds are being used to help states transition away from 14(c).
Places that pay subminimum wage are called sheltered workshops, and they pay disabled people pennies on the dollar, usually in segregated workplaces where all the workers have disabilities and the people in charge are non-disabled. The bill would stop anyone new from being paid less than minimum wage immediately and also gives states and service providers funding to create better, integrated opportunities. Every person paid less than minimum wage right now would be transitioned to minimum wage by five years after TCIEA passes.
NOD is proud to support this legislation.