Maryland HB 420/SB 417: Ken Capone Equal Employment Act (EEA) (2016)

MDLC Board member Ken Capone, People on the Go, MDLC, and other advocates and coalition partners led this strong and successful effort to abolish the payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities in Maryland. Like SB 765, the bill will become a national model when signed into law and make Maryland the second U.S. state to eliminate this discriminatory exception to Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The EEA will phase out “sheltered workshops” that pay people as little as pennies per hour and require the Maryland Department of Disabilities and the Developmental Disabilities Administration to implement a 4-year transition plan to move individuals from segregated day programs to competitive integrated employment. MDLC participates on the Employment First Steering Committee that is developing the policies and infrastructure to support transition to competitive integrated employment.