How some Utah businesses pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities

A new investigation by the Department of Justice has found that Utah is violating federal law because it relies on programs that are keeping people with disabilities away from the community — and often segregating them in workplaces where they have little chance to interact with people who are not disabled.

And for nearly 600 Utahns with disabilities, they are doing their work for less than $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage in Utah.

Companies here can apply for a federal exemption which lets them pay these workers below minimum wage — called “subminimum wage” — if they can show they are employing people whose disabilities affect how productive they can be.

Here is what working subminimum wage looks like in Utah.

What is ‘subminimum wage’?

Businesses across the country have been able to pay workers with disabilities subminimum wages since the 1930s — when minimum wage laws were first introduced. The goal with the exception was to encourage employers to hire those with disabilities, and it was seen at that time as a way to create jobs and training for them. Many advocates today decry the practice as exploitative.

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How some Utah businesses pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities

How some Utah businesses pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities

How some Utah businesses pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities

How some Utah businesses pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities

How some Utah businesses pay less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities