Webinar series: Ending Subminimum Wages in Georgia Series
Introduction:
For decades, it has been legal to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wages. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed and specified standards for basic minimum wage rates and overtime pay. It also created a special exemption authorizing employers to pay wages significantly lower than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities. Progressive at the time, these wage provisions were originally created to encourage the employment of veterans with disabilities in a manufacturing-centered economy. Nowadays, paying significantly lower than the minimum wage to workers with disabilities is seen more and more as inequitable and challenging to civil rights.
Join us for our webinar series focusing on ending subminimum wages in Georgia. These free webinars are open to everyone -- people with disabilities, family members, providers, business leaders, and community members. Please join us, especially if you are not sure about your support the elimination of subminimum wages or know nothing about the topic.
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Advocating for State Policy Changes Through Coalition-Building and Community Organizing
May 13, 2022, 10 A.M. - 11 A.M.​
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Speaker(s) Stacey Ramirez, Founding Partner of Crimminz & Associates
This webinar will discuss ways all stakeholders can advocate for the phasing out of subminimum wages in Georgia. Participants will learn about the importance and strategies of coalition-building and community organizing to advance competitive integrated employment for all Georgians who experience disabilities. This final webinar will pave a path for us to band together to create a powerful collaboration of people who can advocate for change at the state level. We will also explore the legalities of supporting policies for employees of the state.
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Challenging the Arguments for Continuing Subminimum Wages in Georgia
May 3, 2022, 10 A.M. - 11 A.M.​
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Speaker(s) Aarti Sahgal, Founder & CEO of Synergies Work
As a mother of a young man with intellectual and developmental disabilities and a professional building inclusive communities and workforce strategies for individuals with disabilities, Aarti Sahgal will discuss in this webinar how people with disabilities are productive members of their communities and have rights to pay that is congruent with their peers without disabilities. Ms. Sahgal will speak to common arguments for continuing subminimum wages and how she has observed people in the community thriving when they have access to real employment opportunities.
Reviewing Subminimum Wages in Georgia: Comprehending the Past to Change the Future
April 27, 2022, 10 A.M. - 11 A.M.​
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Speaker(s) Julie Kegley, J.D., Senior Staff Attorney and Program Director & Cheri Mitchell, Advocate and Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Coordinator, Georgia Advocacy Office
Building from Doug Crandell's discussion of the history and status of subminimum wages at the federal level, this webinar will discuss the status of 14c at the State of Georgia level. We will talk about the many Georgians with disabilities who still are being paid subminimum wages and the reasons behind this fact. We will review advocacy efforts of the past to end subminimum wages in Georgia and current challenges to eliminating it.