I was involved in a program around 1980 in San Antonio, wherein disabled people were being trained for work. They were being taught soldering and such to assemble small electronic devices. For a few years they were paid some token amount (I forget, but something like 30 cents an hour). I think someone filed a lawsuit on their behalf, and it was ruled that since a private company was benefiting from their work, the minimum wage laws applied and they had to be paid at least that much. And the ruling applied retroactively, so they all received a lump sum check for several years work, which amounted to many thousands of dollars. You've never such a long, loud standing ovation as when that was unexpectedly announced to them.
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BTW, as a bit of trivia, the company they were assembling electronics for was Datapoint Corporation. (Anyone remember that name?) You know IBM and Apple and Microsoft, but Datapoint is who "accidentally invented the personal computer".
The only reason I can see to justify that, is if the work they are doing is not something which benefits the store. For example, if someone is bagging, but they do a very bad job or cause about as much trouble as they're worth, then it might be justified. If they do the job just as well as any other employee, though, then the company is benefiting from free labor. It seems to me that getting paid for hard work is something this program would want to teach; not work for free. What exactly is that teaching them? To get taken advantage of by others?
Well I would think - although could be wrong - that if they are bagging for customers, they wouldn't allow them to keep doing it if they were doing too poorly of a job. The customers would get annoyed after awhile and it would look bad on the business.
Everyone in real life I've mentioned this to doesn't really see the problem, which confuses me.
Originally Posted by BibleMadeMeDoIt
I work for Goodwill Industries, and they have programs that don't provide a weekly pay check but the government pays the Goodwill to provide the person with the "job" and their income is usually SSI, SSD, Vet benefits or Welfare.
Perhaps this is the case. But still doesn't this greatly benefit the company? Free work and getting paid to keep the person on?
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