Nearly 740 workplaces across the U.S. are paying disabled employees less than minimum wage. The practice is legal and expressly permitted by the federal government, so long as employers acquire a special certificate. A new rule aims to change that.

Disability advocates are urging the public to contact the Department of Labor (DOL), which is weighing a rule that would abolish the subminimum wage for disabled workers. The department is accepting feedback on its proposition through Jan. 17, and the document has already received more than 13,000 comments.

Disabled people are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than nondisabled people, and the disparities widen further for disabled people of color. The subminimum wage has contributed to that problem by keeping many workers in poverty, said Dom Kelly, president and CEO of New Disabled South, a nonprofit that lists ending subminimum wages among its organizational priorities.

“The sentiment that I’ve heard is that folks want to feel useful, and they want to be in a place where they can work and use their skills and learn skills,” Kelly said. “But the actual amount of money that they’re making doesn’t actually improve their lives or the lives of their families.”

The change is long overdue, said Lydia Xīnzhèn Zhǎngsūn Brown, the director of public policy at National Disability Institute, as the subminimum wage was introduced nearly a century ago under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“People with disabilities were assumed to be either incapable of working or only capable of working such limited hours and at such a slow rate of pay that it wouldn’t make any economic sense to bother employing the vast majority of people with disabilities,” Brown said. “Now today we know that, first of all, many people with disabilities can and do want to work, even if the ways in which many disabled people work are affected by how their bodies and brains function.”

The vast majority of 14(c) workers are employed at sheltered workshops, segregated settings where disabled employees work separately from nondisabled employees. Brown said many of these jobs are referred to as pre-vocational placements that are meant to prepare disabled people for work in a competitive environment. However, a ProPublica investigation found that most sheltered workshop employees in Missouri had been at the same facility for years—some even for decades. 

“In reality, it doesn’t make any sense,” Brown said. “How long does it take to prepare somebody to begin taking on responsibilities in a work environment?”

The idea of phasing out subminimum wage for disabled workers isn’t without its detractors, many of whom echo arguments against raising the federal minimum wage. Several comments on the DOL’s proposed rule document cite concerns that doing away with the subminimum wage certificates would erode job opportunities for disabled workers, as employers would no longer opt to hire them due to the higher cost. Both Kelly and Brown said that perspective lacks imagination.

“It lacks empathy, and it lacks a willingness to hold our government and our systems to a higher standard,” Kelly said. “Yeah, there is a real issue for disabled people trying to find work. That is real. But we can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Brown pointed to the more than a dozen states that have already phased out the subminimum wage. They said the process typically involves granting funding to help sheltered workshops transition into competitive workplaces while supporting workers who want to remain at the same location or pursue employment elsewhere. A Washington Post analysis found that employment rates increased for adults with cognitive disabilities in states that eliminated sheltered workshop programs.

Kelly and Brown view the public comment period for the DOL rule as essential to shaping the future of subminimum wages.

Kelly said while he hopes to see the DOL phase out subminimum wages for disabled workers, advocates will keep fighting for equal pay. 

“It’s got to go whether or not the DOL actually does anything about it, but we need as many people as we can to make comments this week to make sure that they know this has to go.”