From $0.04 to $7.25: These Disabled Workers Will Finally Earn a Fair Wage

Some 26,000 people who live in Hawaii, United States, achieved a victory since it is no longer legal to pay disabled people less than the minimum wage.

“People with disabilities would be guaranteed to earn the minimum wage and it would restore equity, dignity and respect into our state’s wage laws,” says Governor David Ige.

The discriminatory law – which constituted a violation of civil rights – used to make it legal for employers to pay disabled people less than the $10.10 per hour fixed in Hawaii. The hourly rate at the federal level is fixed at $7.25, and it was shown that in some organizations in the mainland, people with disabilities would earn as little as 4 cents an hour.