SCOTTSDALE
– Tiffany LaBue is one of thousands of Arizonans with disabilities
who are waiting to know if they will be able to continue to
hold a job in this state.
When
Proposition 202 went into effect in January raising the minimum
wage to $6.75 an hour, one group of Arizona workers did not
cheer the increase.
LaBue,
who lives in Scottsdale, is mentally challenged. She works
two days a week clipping coaxial cables under a Scottsdale
Training and Rehabilitation Services contract with Cox Communications.
STARS is a service provider that employs marginally productive
workers with disabilities such as LaBue at lower than minimum
wage scale.
STARS
and other organizations that employ people with disabilities
are working with the state industrial
commission to obtain an exemption for these workers under
Prop 202 so they can continue
to work. Prior to passage of the proposition, Arizona had
no minimum wage law and the federal minimum wage of $5.15
an hour contained an exemption for these workers.
“She
loves working–it gives her a sense of responsibility and she’s
very sociable,” said Tiffany’s mother, Pat LaBue.
“I
know how important working is to Tiffany and know she would
be heartbroken if she could not
work.”
Scottsdale
Training and Rehabilitation Services and other such service
providers statewide employ people with severe disabilities
who could not otherwise hold a job. This private nonprofit
finds contract work for these people who are paid according
to their abilities.
For
example, a non‑disabled person could earn $10 an hour
making 10 widgets an hour, so STARS will take that industry
average and determine that their client can produce one per
hour and pay him $1 an hour, said STARS president Jeffrey
Battle. Some workers earn on average $1.75 an hour.
According
to Battle, the state has temporarily suspended enactment of
the law with respect to people with these types of disabilities.
The
Arizona Industrial Commission is proposing an exemption to
the new law, he said. The exemption would appear in the rules
now being promulgated to interpret the law. The rule would
define employee under Prop 202 not to include trainees and
service recipients such as people with severe disabilities.
“This
(exemption) is really important,” Battle said. “If it passes
through all the protocol, it
means our 80 clients will continue to enjoy remuneration and
training work experience.”
“If
it passes, our clients will be able to enjoy the same kind
of sense of accomplishment and
achievement, and socialization that everybody else enjoys
in their jobs,” Battle added.
If
the exemption does not pass, Battle estimates about 3,000‑5,000
workers with disabilities would lose their source of employment.
A
public hearing on the policy exemption will be held at 1:30
p.m. March 22 at the Industrial Commission Office, 800 W.
Washington St. in Phoenix.
