U.S. Department of Labor 

Employment Standards Administration 

Wage and Hour Division 

 (Revised July 2008) 

Fact Sheet #39: The Employment of Workers with Disabilities at Special 

Minimum Wages 

This fact sheet provides general information concerning the application of section 14(c) of the Fair Labor 

Standards Act (FLSA). 

Characteristics 

Section 14(c) of the FLSA auzthorizes employers, after receiving a certificate from the Wage and Hour 

Division, to pay special minimum wages - wages less than the Federal minimum wage - to workers who have 

disabilities for the work being performed. The certificate also allows the payment of wages that are less than the 

prevailing wage to workers who have disabilities for the work being performed on contracts subject to the 

McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA) and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (PCA). 

A worker who has disabilities for the job being performed is one whose earning or productive capacity is 

impaired by a physical or mental disability, including those relating to age or injury. Disabilities which may 

affect productive capacity include blindness, mental illness, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, alcoholism and 

drug addiction. The following, taken by themselves, are not considered to be disabilities for purposes of paying 

special minimum wages: education disabilities, chronic unemployment, receipt of welfare benefits, 

nonattendance at school, juvenile delinquency, and correctional parole or probation. 

Section 14(c) does not apply unless the disability actually impairs the worker's earning or productive capacity 

for the work being performed. The fact that a worker may have a disability is not in and of itself sufficient to 

warrant the payment of a special minimum wage. 

Coverage

Any person who works on or otherwise handles goods that are moving in interstate commerce is individually 

subject to the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the FLSA. In addition, employees of enterprises 

operated for a business purpose that have an annual dollar volume of sales or business done of at least $500,000 

are also subject to the FLSA's requirements. Furthermore, employees of public agencies; hospitals; institutions 

primarily engaged, in the Act's own words, “in the care of the sick, the aged, or the mentally ill or defective who 

reside on the premises;” schools for children who have disabilities; or preschools, elementary or secondary 

schools, or institutions of higher education are covered on an enterprise basis regardless of the annual dollar 

volume of the employer. 

Requirements 

Certification 

Employers must obtain an authorizing certificate from the Wage and Hour Division prior to paying special 

minimum wages to employees who have disabilities for the work being performed. Employers shall submit a 

properly completed application (Form WH-226-MIS, Application for Authority to Employ Workers with 

Disabilities at Special Minimum Wages.) and the required supporting documentation to: United States 
Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division, 230 South Dearborn 

Street, Room 514, Chicago, Illinois, 60604-1757; (312) 596-7195. Certificates covering employees of work 

centers and patient workers normally remain in effect for two years. Certificates covering workers with 

disabilities placed in competitive employment situations or School Work Exploration Programs (SWEPs) are 

issued annually. 

Commensurate Wage Rates 

Special minimum wages must be commensurate wage rates - based on the worker's individual productivity, no 

matter how limited, in proportion to the wage and productivity of experienced workers who do not have 

disabilities performing essentially the same type, quality, and quantity of work in the geographic area from 

which the labor force of the community is drawn. The key elements in determining commensurate rates are: 

• Determining the standard for workers who do not have disabilities, the objective gauge against which 

the productivity of the worker with a disability is measured. 

• Determining the prevailing wage, the wage paid to experienced workers who do not have disabilities for 

the same or similar work and who are performing such work in the area. Most SCA contracts include a 

wage determination specifying the prevailing wage rates to be paid for work on the SCA contract. 

• Evaluating the quantity and quality of the productivity of the worker with the disability.

All special minimum wages must be reviewed and adjusted, if appropriate, at periodic intervals. At a minimum, 

the productivity of hourly paid workers must be reevaluated every six months and a new prevailing wage survey 

must be conducted at least every twelve months. 

Overtime, Child Labor and Fringe Benefits 

Generally, workers subject to the FLSA, SCA, and/or PCA must be paid overtime at least 1 1/2 times their 

regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Minors younger than 18 years of age must be 

employed in accordance with the youth employment provisions of the FLSA and PCA. Neither the FLSA nor 

PCA have provisions requiring the payment of fringe benefits. Workers paid special minimum wages, however, 

must receive the full fringe benefits listed on the wage determination when performing work subject to the 

SCA. 

Enforcement 

The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the FLSA. In addition, 

any worker with a disability paid at special minimum wages, or his/her parent or guardian, may petition the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division for a review of their special wage rates by a Department of Labor 

Administrative Law Judge. 

Worker Notification 

Each worker with a disability and, where appropriate, the parent or guardian of such worker, shall be informed 

orally and in writing by the employer of the terms of the certificate under which such worker is employed. In 

addition, employers must display the Wage and Hour Division poster, Notice to Workers with Disabilities Paid 

at Special Minimum Wages (WH Publication 1284). 
Where to Obtain Additional Information 

For additional information, visit our Wage and Hour Division Website: http://www.wagehour.dol.gov

and/or call our toll-free information and helpline, available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your time zone, 1-866-

4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). 

This publication is for general information and is not to be considered in the same light as official statements of 

position contained in the regulations. 

U.S. Department of Labor

Frances Perkins Building 

200 Constitution Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20210 

1-866-4-USWAGE

 TTY: 1-866-487-9243

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