It still has one final procedural hurdle to surmount, but a measure ending an 80-year-old disparity in minimum pay levels for Virginians with disabilities is likely to become law.
The measure, patroned by Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), would end the 1940s-era measure allowing those employing workers with disabilities to pay less than the minimum wage – sometimes as low as $3 per hour.
The measure would impact about 300 people, who under the bill eventually would be paid no less than Virginia’s prevailing minimum wage. It also uses federal funding to reimburse the employers (not more than 20) currently using existing law to pay their workers less than minimum wage.
Current state law authorizing a sub-minimum wage, when enacted decades ago, was seen as a progressive measure, enabling those with disabilities to enter the workforce and be productive. But in recent years it has been viewed as archaic.
Hope’s measure sailed through the Republican-controlled House of Delegates unanimously, but ran into trouble with GOP members in the Democratic state Senate before winning narrow passage on a party-line vote.
Following the brouhaha, Hope worked with Gov. Youngkin’s office to address concerns. As a result, the governor issued a recommendation that employers currently paying less than minimum wage will have until 2030 to make the change.
“I worked with the governor on these amendments to give employers a little extra time to comply,” Hope told the GazetteLeader. “I wanted a ‘date certain’ or a ‘no later than’ date to compel this change.”
The General Assembly will reconvene in Richmond in coming weeks to consider the recommendation, as well as all the governor’s other actions.
