This article originally appeared in ABC Columbia.
In South Carolina, thousands of people with disabilities can work a job and only make a fraction of the minimum wage.
This is due to a provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which makes it legal for people with disabilities who work for certain nonprofits, training centers, and sheltered workshops to make below $7.25/hour.
“Now what happens is people with disabilities stay in these training centers for years and years and years, and really all their lives and are paid literally pennies,” said Kimberly Tissot, the Executive Director of Able SC, an organization that aims to empower people with disabilities to live self-determined lives.
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