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From
The AP:
WASHINGTON — The Iowa case of 21 disabled workers from Texas who lived for decades in a ramshackle house for meager wages has exposed loopholes in the
nation's labor laws, advocates for the disabled and workers said Monday.
The Iowa case, where some workers were paid as little as 44 cents per hour, shows weaknesses in laws that allow employers to pay less than the minimum wage to workers under certain circumstances and lets employers deduct the reasonable cost of providing food, lodging and other services from paychecks.
"For too long, we have been complacent about the potential for abuse and exploitation of people with disabilities, as well as other vulnerable populations, in the workplace," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who convened a Senate hearing related to the case.
Harkin, who called the revelations in Atalissa, Iowa, a "rude wake up call," said he was developing legislation to re-examine wage rules for the disabled, review the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act and impose stiffer fines for violators.
Advocates for workers' organizations said the Labor Department was understaffed, making it difficult to conduct investigations into similar cases. They said employers were not required to explain wages, benefits and deductions to workers with their paychecks, and penalties for violations — back wages owed for at least two years — failed to address long-standing problems.
"We worry about the IRS. No one worries about the Department of Labor," said Kim Bobo, executive director of Chicago-based Interfaith Worker Justice. "We need to be fearful of them coming in because they're going to find something and if they do, they're going to penalize you."
John McKeon, the Labor Department's deputy administrator for the enforcement, wage and hour division, said three compliance officers with the agency were responsible for reviewing about 2,500 renewal certificates for employers paying less than the minimum wage under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The agency conducts about 135 site visits a year, he said.
The department has fewer than 750 investigators across the country reviewing a broad number of cases, McKeon said. He estimated there were 1,500 investigators in 1975.
"I suspect there are a lot of 14(c) employers who have never seen a wage and hour investigator," McKeon said. "It's a resource issue."
The treatment of the mentally disabled workers has led to outrage in Iowa.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, formed a task force to determine whether changes were needed to state laws and regulations, and several federal, state and local investigations are under way.
James Leonard, a former attorney with the Labor Department, noted that the cockroach-infested bunkhouse where the workers lived was rented for $600 per
month yet Henry's Turkey Service, the Texas-based contractor that supplied the workers, deducted $487 from each worker's wages for room and board along with $572 for "kind care" for a total of $1,059 per month.
Others called for more transparency in public records. Curtis Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, noted that Iowa investigators were told they need to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get information about Henry's Turkey Service and the employment of mentally disabled adults who worked there.
From The AP:
