Task Force on Eliminating Subminimum Wages meeting summary: April 12, 2022
Agenda items
Activity: Task force members identify potential benefits, challenges to eliminating subminimum wages
Task force members broke into three work groups to discuss potential benefits and potential challenges to eliminating subminimum wages. The legislative session law that created the task force specifically charges members with identifying benefits and barriers “to the state in eliminating subminimum wages.” Members focused their discussions on benefits and challenges across the four categories listed below and added categories as needed:
Facilitators captured ideas from task force members using an online whiteboard. Representatives from each of the three work groups reported out to the full group on highlights from their discussions. The three groups together identified 88 potential benefits and 88 potential challenges, including many points that overlapped. Management Analysis and Development (MAD) will compile the benefits and barriers, match duplicates and share the resulting documentation with task force members before the May meeting. That document will be included in the April 12 meeting materials available on the task force website under the meeting tab.
Activity: Task force members identify potential benefits, challenges to eliminating subminimum wages
Melissa Jimison and Erin Lammers from Public Sector Consultants (PSC) asked members what the task force communications plan needs to include for families of people earning subminimum wages. (Melissa noted that the engagement and communications planning group already discussed what needs to be included in the communications plan for people with disabilities.) Task force members identified a range of messages and approaches to include in the communications plan for families. A summary of their comments will be included in the April 12 meeting materials available on the task force website under the meeting tab. Members also suggested that communications to families come from families whose members have transitioned away from subminimum wage work. Similarly, communications with employment service providers come from peer providers who have transitioned away from subminimum wages.
Presentations, questions, discussions and notes
Remembering the purpose of the task force and working together to explore task for topics
In her welcoming remarks, co-chair Andrea Zuber reminded members that the state Legislature directed the task force to plan for the successful phase out of subminimum wages in Minnesota if the state Legislature or Congress decides to do that. It is not the purpose of the task force to debate whether or not to eliminate subminimum wages, she said. That is a policy decision for the Legislature or Congress. “Our collective work together does not eliminate subminimum wages,” Zuber said. In her closing comments, co-chair Jillian Nelson noted that task force members came together in the meeting to conduct important work and did so in a “beautiful way.” The discussions positioned the group well to explore its topics for the plan, she said.
Task force principles for constructive conversations
Melissa and Karen Gaides from MAD shared the list of values and principles that task force members developed at the March meeting and highlighted its importance for constructive task force conversations. (See slide 4 of the TFESW presentation, to be included with the April 12 meeting materials available on the task force website under the meeting tab.) Principles on the list — for example, be mindful of purpose and listen to understand — will help task force members discuss areas of disagreement in a constructive manner.
Task force updates
Jake Granholm reviewed expected topics for task force meetings through November, including the following elements for the plan:
Jake shared that member Lisa Parteh had to step down from the task force for personal reasons. The state is working to fill her position on the task force.
Jake noted that interviews have been completed with officials from Oregon, Maryland, Ohio and Iowa about phasing out subminimum wages or moving away from subminimum wage employment. Key findings and themes will be shared at upcoming meeting as they relate to task force meeting topics.
Per diem allocations have expanded to include meetings of the engagement and communications planning group for qualifying task force members.
Lifeworks’ exit from subminimum wages
Lifeworks, where member Raquel Sidie-Wagner is a regional manager, dropped its 14(c) certification and moved away from all subminimum wage employment for people with disabilities as of March 2017. Raquel presented about that choice, the outcomes, the process, the benefits and the challenges based on her role in the transition and on saved notes and documents from that time. The details of her presentation are found in the Lifeworks slides, to be included with the April 12 meeting materials available on the task force website under the meetings tab.
Lifeworks took a full year to plan its exit from subminimum wage employment, communicate with affected businesses and people, and complete the transition. Lifeworks felt use of its 14(c) certificate no longer served its mission and maintenance of the certificate was cumbersome and expensive. At the time Lifeworks exited subminimum wages, it was serving 58 people working for subminimum wages at eight businesses in the community. With the transition, seven of the businesses kept the employees and increased their wages. Half the workers kept their current jobs, six lost their jobs but obtained new ones at competitive wages, four left Lifeworks to seek other subminimum wage work, and 19 others — including many who were retirement age — moved into Lifeworks services other than employment. Lifeworks met with all the people and businesses affected by the transition, developed a plan for each of them and developed and used tools and resources for communications and decisions.
Raquel noted where Lifeworks encountered challenges with the process. Challenges included:
Lifeworks responded to these challenges in a numbers of ways, including Lifeworks meetings that included people from all parts of the organization, more tools and better talking points for staff, connections with experts on the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and other consultants, and revenue projections to determine risks.
After the transition, Lifeworks expanded its capacity for employment supports and its revenue from 2017 through 2019. It supports about 650 people with finding and maintaining employment mostly in the Twin Cities area, but about 165 people are in the Mankato area. Now, more people are hired directly by employers for their jobs. The exit from subminimum wages has better aligned Lifeworks with its mission and with self-advocates, has led to more individualized and creative employment searches, and means Lifeworks no longer has to worry about a change in law for subminimum wages.
Questions and clarifications:
In response to a question from a task force member, Raquel said some people who had been earning subminimum wages moved to vocational rehabilitation services. She said the shift away from subminimum wages allowed Lifeworks to access vocational rehabilitation services it wouldn’t have been able to access while holding a 14(c) certificate.
A task force member asked about the expense of maintaining a 14(c) certificate. Raquel cited the costs of conducting time studies and tests required under the certificate and the costs of annual documentation. For employment service providers, the costs are expensive and the requirements are burdensome, she said.
In response to another question, Raquel said Lifeworks had to make sure that it fulfilled requirements of the federal WIOA when meeting with people who had jobs that paid subminimum wages. Lifeworks has documents that spelled out what needed to happen in those meetings.
Update on engagement, communication and education objectives
Melissa talked about planning work done to date for engagement, communication and education. In terms of engagement, objectives include engaging affected people and giving them a voice in the work of the task force. In terms of communication, objectives include education on the shift away from subminimum wages and information and tools for providers receiving Reinvention grants from the state. She reviewed key questions and planning activities to date. PSC expects to have a draft engagement and communications plan for the planning group at the end of April and a draft plan to share with the task force at its March meeting. (For more, see slides 14-19 of the TFESW presentation, to be included with the April 12 meeting materials available on the task force website under the meeting tab.)
Several task force members emphasized the importance of authentic engagement with people with disabilities and with people earning subminimum wages. Melissa said PSC will do its best to hear authentic voices.
Next meeting: May 10, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. online
Participants
Task force members present
Others:
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