US DOJ Secures Back Wages for Students with Disabilities Who Were Financially Exploited by School District

News Release
WHD News Release: [01/28/2014]
Contact Name: Ted Fitzgerald or Jennifer Marion
Phone Number: (617) 565-2075 or (202) 693-5795
Email: Fitzgerald.Edmund@dol.gov or marion.jennifer.r@dol.gov
Release Number: 13-2358-BOS

US Department of Labor secures more than $250,000 in back wages for student workers with disabilities in Providence, R.I.
Harold A. Birch Vocational Center and School violated federal minimum wage law

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The City of Providence, the Providence School Board and the Harold A. Birch Vocational Center and School have signed a settlement agreement to pay $250,859 in back wages to 60 student workers with disabilities following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. As part of the settlement agreement the department has retroactively revoked the certificate that allowed the school to pay the workers less than the current federal minimum wage for the work performed.
"This settlement is the result of a strategic enforcement initiative to protect workers with disabilities from exploitation," said David R. Gerrain, acting district director of the Wage and Hour Division's Hartford office. "Workers with disabilities deserve an opportunity to do meaningful work and to receive an income. Although employers may legally pay such workers below the current federal minimum wage, the law clearly states that they may only do so when they assure compliance with certain, key conditions."
"We applaud the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division for its efforts to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act to protect individuals with disabilities from exploitation and abuse. This agreement brings valuable compensation to students who, because of their disabilities, were deprived of appropriate wages, segregated from their peers, and denied the opportunity to prepare for work in real jobs," said Eve Hill, deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. "This compensation is an important step towards independence, economic self-sufficiency, and full community participation for these students."
Specifically, the department found that Birch Vocational School failed to determine the prevailing wage rates for workers performing similar work in the area, failed to determine the appropriate sub-minimum wage to be paid to each worker as allowed under Section 14(c) of the FLSA, failed to maintain proper records, and failed to properly pay employees in accordance with the Act.

To read the whole press release, CLICK HERE.

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(Attention Montgomery County Board of Education, pick up the white courtesy phone.)