"Our prices are low our staff is underpaid"

[leora]

So, I've been doing a little research, since I found out I bought products from a company that in 2009 (the time of the article I read) had an employee who was making an average wage of 11 cents an hour, legally, in the US. This is disturbing.

This article seems reasonably balanced about the issue of paying disabled employees below minimum wage

Comments

[leora]

Also, how does the flexibility in the schedule not cost the employer? Right now, they are making the employee pay for the flexibility. If the employee chooses not to work, the employee may, but doesn't get paid for that time. Thus really low hourly wages. But if we make the employers pay, then they would be paying much higher amounts for much less productivity.

I think what you're missing is that if the employee is working to the same extent as a typical worker, then they get the same wage as a typical worker. They only get paid less if they perform less. An able-bodied worker who underperforms would get fired. The disabled employee instead gets paid a percentage based on the actual performance, but gets to keep the job, while underperforming. This allows them to wander off if they can't stay on task or to work more slowly, but keep the job.

They are informed that their salary is based on performance. It's much more like contract work. But if you up the hourly wage and still allow them to work whenever they want, then it would cost the employer a lot more.