Restoration of Employment Choice for Adults with Disabilities Act
Restoration of Employment Choice for Adults with Disabilities Act This bill relaxes requirements that allow entities with a special wage certificate to pay subminimum wages to individuals with disabilities. Specifically, the bill eliminates a requirement that an individual with a disability who is age 24 or younger receive pre-employment transition services and meet specified vocational rehabilitation criteria before beginning subminimum wage work. The bill also relaxes career counseling and service referral requirements that apply to an individual with a disability who is paid at a subminimum wage. Current law requires an entity to ensure that an individual employed at subminimum wage receives periodic career counseling, information, and referrals to other services from the designated state agency. Under the bill, this requirement is met if the employer makes a documented effort to contact the state agency for those resources on behalf of the employee, and the state agency subsequently fails to provide the counseling, information, and referrals.
The provisions, in plain language.
Removes the previous rule that barred employers from paying workers with disabilities less than minimum wage unless they completed counseling and documentation first. Instead, it now says any employer may pay a sub-minimum wage if the counseling and documentation process is completed — and it expands the age range covered from people 24 and younger to adults 18 and older. Workers over 24 who seek or already hold a sub-minimum wage job under a Section 14(c) certificate are now subject to the counseling and documentation requirement for the first time.
Adjusts the age cutoff in the documentation review schedule from 24 down to 17, aligning the youth-tier counseling timeline with the new age boundaries set by the preamble change.
Requires that when counseling and documentation is completed for a worker who is currently employed at a sub-minimum wage (14(c)) employer, copies of that documentation must be made available to the employing entity — giving the employer access to records produced during their worker's counseling process.
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- Adults with disabilities age 25 and older in sub-minimum wage employmentUnder the prior law, the counseling and documentation safeguards applied only through age 24; the bill extends them to adults 18 or older, meaning workers over 24 in 14(c) jobs now receive the same counseling and documentation rights as younger workers.
- Employers holding 14(c) sub-minimum wage certificatesThe bill reframes the rule from a prohibition (no employment unless documentation is complete) to a permission (any entity may employ if documentation is complete), and requires that completed counseling documentation be sent to the employer. This gives employers clearer legal standing and access to worker counseling records under Provision 3.
Who it burdens
- State vocational rehabilitation agencies and other entities administering counselingBy extending the mandatory counseling and documentation requirement to all adults 18 or older (not just those 24 or younger), the bill expands the population for whom agencies must conduct and document these processes, increasing administrative workload.