Banning the sub-minimum wage could harm workers with disabilities

The City of Seattle recently decided to ban the sub-minimum wage, and some groups are trying to get the wage abolished statewide.

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The sub-minimum wage exception allows employers to pay people with developmental disabilities less than the legal minimum wage.

However, some family members of adults with developmental disabilities are arguing that, in the long run, the ban may do more harm than good.

Seattle resident Buz Humphrey, whose 43-year-old son, Matt Humphrey, receives the sub-minimum wage, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that the ban is”contradictory and makes no sense.”

Matt, who has Down Syndrome, works at Northwest Center, which was founded to help people with special needs. Matt performs tasks such as cleaning TV remotes and assembling packages.

Buz explained that Matt’s hours have already been cut due to a lack of federal and state funding. Matt currently works about two hours per day, four days a week, earning about $8 per month.

If people with developmental disabilities are required to be paid the same as workers with typical abilities, Buz said that the result will be a loss of employment for people with special needs.

According to his father, Matt needs employment, because the job gives him a sense of purpose and fulfillment every day.

“I think [the ban] is unrealistic, it’s short-sighted, it’s not taking into account unintended consequences of what’s going to happen to Matt and a lot of other [workers with severe developmental disabilities] who are not going to be offered any form of employment,” he said.

The city’s only motivation for the ban, Buz believes, is political correctness. Though he himself identifies as a liberal, Buz said that even he thinks that the city is, in this instance, taking political correctness too far.

“It doesn’t matter, the reality of the situation … This is fantasy,” he said.