Disabled workers at Goodwill get paid under $1 per hour...

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and it is legal thanks to a loophole in a 1938 "labor standards act"

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21134540/vp/52280748#52280748

ASAN was interviewed for the story, as discussed in this thread in "Activism"

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt233671.html

As long as corporations exist, they will always find loopholes.

Not knowing all the specifics, I can support Goodwill doing this under the following circumstances.

People on welfare SHOULD be working in any way they can. I'd have them doing anything they can to "earn" what they get.

If Goodwill employs people and pays them normal wages, it could disqualify them for the programs they are enrolled in. In such cases, employing them would be counterproductive, so the low pay gives the worker something, and the workers get the benefit of being productive and building some level of work experience.

As unpaid internships are legal because it gives the intern a learning opportunity, I don't see much of a difference.

Last time I went to a Goodwill store, there wasn't much as far as help or staff.

who can put a roof over their heads on just 22 cents per hour?

If you're in a welfare program that's doing that bit for you, I can understand not paying people a lot. For otherwise unassisted people, it would be abominable.

Of course, why would someone not on assistance work for so little? They'd have to be absolutely desperate for something for the resume.

or homeless.

There's a lot of variables

Are they receiving government aid?

Are they receiving ad from the agency?

I can't say I really support it. I'd be OK if the "task based performance" thing evened out at $4-5 an hour or something like that. But at those small wages an hour or whatever, I hardly think it's dignifying the disabled people in any way.

As far as disabled people needing to work for "society" whatever. Lots of undisabled people are on welfare/food stamps doing nothing. I don't see why people who are so disabled with the "task based performance review" or whatever that they're only "entitled" to make 22c an hour ARE even working. If these people are supposedly that bad, then it's not efficient for a company to hire them at all then.

I mean, I'm not going to stop a disabled person that feels happy making 22c an hour or whatever, just I don't see how/why they'd be happy with that, especially overhearing other employees talking about making $8 an hour. It probably makes them feel terrible and very unvalued to have a society deem that your work is only worth a dollar while a normal person's work is worth 8. If they're being controlled by a caseworker or something like that and the caseworker just tells them not to worry, to me this does seem like using disabled people as modern day slave labor.

And as a commenter said somewhere else, the CEO of Goodwill makes 500K to a million a year.

I went to school with a kid who had severe mental retardation. Last I saw he was working as a bagger at a grocery store chain. I'm not sure how well his pay stack up (do they cheat him on raises because he might not know better), but I'm glad he was able to have a job and be more self-sufficient.

So let's close down all of the Goodwill stores - problem solved!

I generally go to Salvation Army anyway.

There is a thrift shop nearby called "Working Wardrobes". Their employees are volunteers, doing retail work in exchange for the experience, a good reference, and a selection from well-cared-for business clothing. When a person shows up in decent business attire for an interview, it doesn't matter to the employer how much they paid for it. As long as they look at least semi-professional, they have a better chance of getting a job.

I'm conflicted on this one. The pay scales mentioned seemed to center around the "sheltered workshops" so I wasn't sure if this was representative of all Goodwill stores. From what I've browsed, it looks like 94% of Goodwill profits go back into programs for the community(just over 4% goes into administration). I've worked at a Goodwill before, but not under a disability program. The pay was over minimum wage (barely), and it is very production driven. The severely disabled employees were exempt from the production requirements.
If the workers in the sheltered workshops are being held to the same standards as everyone else, then they should receive the same pay rate. There just wasn't enough information on the clip as to what other possible services might have been provided (such as housing/transportation/aides), and what was shown looked to be actual donation center footage. I did not feel that the company's representative provided an adequate response to the questioning.

or severely handicapped. They may not know they're being screwed. About housing, some may still live with parents or someone else? I don't know hoe that all works in the USA.