Senator Murray Statement on Biden Administration Proposed Rule to End Subminimum Wage for Workers with Disabilities

Former HELP Chair Murray has repeatedly pushed for years to end subminimum wage for workers with disabilities

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s proposed rule to end the subminimum wage for people with disabilities:  

“It’s unacceptable that, for nearly a century, employers have been permitted to pay disabled workers well below the minimum wage for doing the same work as their non-disabled peers. The subminimum wage is discrimination, plain and simple—this is about people’s dignity and their ability to earn a living and provide for their families. The Biden administration’s rule to phase out the subminimum wage is a major step forward for the rights and economic wellbeing of people with disabilities, and if President elect-Trump and Republicans are serious about helping workers, they will protect this rule next year.”

Senator Murray has long fought to eliminate the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities, tipped workers, and youth workers. The Raise the Wage Act, which she reintroduced alongside many of her Democratic colleagues last year, would do just that. In March 2022, Murray applauded the U.S. Department of Education for launching an initiative to help phase out the subminimum wage for people with disabilities by making $167 million in funding available to sponsor innovative approaches to transition workers with disabilities who earn subminimum wages into competitive integrated employment opportunities where they can earn a fair wage.

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