Title: Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act of 2017
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment Act of 2017
This bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to: (1) prohibit the Department of Labor from issuing new special wage certificates for individuals whose earning or productive capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental deficiency, or injury, and (2) repeal the authority for issuing such certificates six years after the enactment of this bill, at which time any outstanding special wage certificates shall be revoked.
Labor shall not renew any special certificate previously provided to an employer unless the employer provides, on an annual basis: (1) individualized assessments of each employee paid subminimum wages under any such special certificate; (2) individualized assessments of each employee that identify how obstacles related to disability prevent each employee paid subminimum wages from transitioning into available job opportunities that pay at or above the minimum wage and the resources provided to each such employee in order to mitigate those disability-related obstacles; and (3) a transition plan for each such employee.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1377 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transitioning to Integrated and 
Meaningful Employment Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. DISCONTINUANCE OF SPECIAL CERTIFICATES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH 
              DISABILITIES.

    (a) No Issuance of New Special Certificates.--Beginning on the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall not issue any 
new special certificates under section 14(c)(1) of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)(1)).
    (b) Conditions for Renewal of Certificates.--Beginning on the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall not renew any 
special certificate to an employer previously provided such a 
certificate under section 14(c)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)(1)) unless the employer provides, on an annual 
basis, to the Secretary the following information:
            (1) Individualized assessments of each employee paid 
        subminimum wages under any such special certificate, including 
        the wages earned, skills developed, and qualifications required 
        for employment with such certificate holder at or above minimum 
        wage for that year.
            (2) Individualized assessments of the employee that 
        identify how obstacles related to the disability prevent each 
        employee paid subminimum wages from transitioning into 
        available job opportunities that pay at or above the minimum 
        wage and the resources provided to each such employee in order 
        to mitigate those disability-related obstacles.
            (3) A transition plan for each such employee that includes 
        demonstrable benchmarks to facilitate the placement of each 
        such employee into employment opportunities that compensate for 
        work at or above the minimum wage.
    (c) Publication.--The Secretary of Labor shall make the information 
submitted under subsection (b) publicly available and updated on the 
website of the Department of Labor. Such publicly available information 
shall not include any personally identifiable information regarding any 
employee who is the subject of the assessments and plans required under 
such subsection or who is paid a subminimum wage pursuant to a special 
certificate described in such subsection.
    (d) Definitions.--As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``minimum wage'' means the minimum wage in 
        effect under section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
        1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)); and
            (2) the term ``subminimum wage'' means any wage paid to any 
        employee pursuant to a special certificate issued under section 
        14(c)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
        214(c)(1)) that is less than the minimum wage.
    (e) Enforcement.--Any employer that continues to pay a subminimum 
wage to an employee without meeting the conditions set forth in 
subparagraph (b) shall be deemed to have violated a regulation or order 
of the Secretary of Labor issued under section 14 of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214).

SEC. 3. REPEAL SPECIAL CERTIFICATE PROVISIONS.

    Effective on the date that is 6 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, subsection (c) of section 14 of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)) is repealed, and any 
outstanding special wage certificates issued under such subsection 
shall be revoked.
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