I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1377 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to better align certain 

provisions of such Act with Federal disability laws and policies intended 

to remove societal and institutional barriers to employment opportunities 

for people with disabilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2017 

Mr. HARPER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to better 

align certain provisions of such Act with Federal disability laws and policies intended to remove societal and 

institutional barriers to employment opportunities for 

people with disabilities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transitioning to Inte5 grated and Meaningful Employment Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCONTINUANCE OF SPECIAL CERTIFICATES FOR 

2 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

3 (a) NO ISSUANCE OF NEW SPECIAL CERTIFI4 CATES.—Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 

5 the Secretary of Labor shall not issue any new special cer6 tificates under section 14(c)(1) of the Fair Labor Stand7 ards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)(1)). 

8 (b) CONDITIONS FOR RENEWAL OF CERTIFICATES.— 

9 Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary of Labor shall not renew any special certificate to 

11 an employer previously provided such a certificate under 

12 section 14(c)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

13 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)(1)) unless the employer provides, on an 

14 annual basis, to the Secretary the following information: 

15 (1) Individualized assessments of each employee 

16 paid subminimum wages under any such special cer17 tificate, including the wages earned, skills developed, 

18 and qualifications required for employment with 

19 such certificate holder at or above minimum wage 

20 for that year. 

21 (2) Individualized assessments of the employee 

22 that identify how obstacles related to the disability 

23 prevent each employee paid subminimum wages from 

24 transitioning into available job opportunities that 

25 pay at or above the minimum wage and the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:57 Mar 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1377.IH H1377

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•HR 1377 IH

1 sources provided to each such employee in order to 

2 mitigate those disability-related obstacles. 

3 (3) A transition plan for each such employee 

4 that includes demonstrable benchmarks to facilitate 

5 the placement of each such employee into employ6 ment opportunities that compensate for work at or 

7 above the minimum wage. 

8 (c) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary of Labor shall 

9 make the information submitted under subsection (b) pub10 licly available and updated on the website of the Depart11 ment of Labor. Such publicly available information shall 

12 not include any personally identifiable information regard13 ing any employee who is the subject of the assessments 

14 and plans required under such subsection or who is paid 

15 a subminimum wage pursuant to a special certificate de16 scribed in such subsection. 

17 (d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 

18 (1) the term ‘‘minimum wage’’ means the min19 imum wage in effect under section 6(a)(1) of the 

20 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 

21 206(a)(1)); and 

22 (2) the term ‘‘subminimum wage’’ means any 

23 wage paid to any employee pursuant to a special cer24 tificate issued under section 14(c)(1) of the Fair 


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1 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)(1)) 

2 that is less than the minimum wage. 

3 (e) ENFORCEMENT.—Any employer that continues to 

4 pay a subminimum wage to an employee without meeting 

5 the conditions set forth in subparagraph (b) shall be 

6 deemed to have violated a regulation or order of the Sec7 retary of Labor issued under section 14 of the Fair Labor 

8 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214). 

9 SEC. 3. REPEAL SPECIAL CERTIFICATE PROVISIONS. 

10 Effective on the date that is 6 years after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act, subsection (c) of section 14 

12 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 

13 214(c)) is repealed, and any outstanding special wage cer14 tificates issued under such subsection shall be revoked. 

Æ 


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