Amanda Marshall and Bob Joodeph.JPG
Oregon U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall, joined by Bob Joondeph, executive director of Disability Rights Oregon, announces in April 2013 that the U.S. Department of Justice has joined a federal class-action lawsuit that accuses Oregon of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(Brent Wojhan/The Oregonian/2013 )
SALEM -- Should disabled workers receive the minimum wage if they aren't as productive as able-bodied workers?
Disability rights advocates and union representatives say yes and have thrown their support behind House Bill 4118, which would require disabled workers in the state's nonprofit sheltered workshops to earn the minimum wage. Opponents, including the Oregon Rehabilitation Association, say the bill would force them to lay off workers and could disqualify disabled workers from receiving public assistance.
Lawmakers seemed lukewarm about the bill, which received a public hearing Tuesday in the House Consumer Protection and Government Efficiency Committee. The bill could wind up creating a task force to study the "complicated" issue, said Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, committee chairman.
Sheltered workshops are state programs that offer employment and vocational services for people with intellectual and physical disabilities and that, by federal law, are allowed to pay workers below minimum wage.
The U.S. Department of Justice has joined a federal class-action lawsuit about the workshops brought by Disability Rights Oregon, the Center for Public Representation and two private law firms on behalf of eight people with disabilities and United Cerebral Palsy of Oregon and Southwest Washington. Trial is scheduled for summer 2015.
Gov. John Kitzhaber last April announced plans to move more Oregonians with severe disabilities into the general workforce and gradually decrease state funding to sheltered workshops.
The bill is scheduled for a work session Thursday.
-- Yuxing Zheng