Programs for disabled fall between the cracks of minimum wage law (sidebar)

Nevada voters passed the minimum wage amendment without reading all the fine print. And those who drafted the bill missed a little something as well. Agencies that provide jobs for developmentally-disabled adults were dismayed to find that the new legislation no longer included their clients in the three groups granted exemption from the minimum wage.

(Exempt under the new law are persons under age 18, those employed by a non-profit after school or summer, and those employed as a trainee for a 90-day period.)

Because developmentally disabled persons enrolled in these programs already have disabilities, providing health insurance is not feasible. So the law requires the top-tier hourly minimum wage of $6.15.

"The cost to these programs is devastating," says State Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek. "Draftees of the amendment say they didn't mean for that to happen." He is working with elected officials on ways to fix the oversight.

Tanchek said the federal Fair Labor Standards Act was modified to provide an exemption for hiring the disabled. But when federal and state laws conflict, whichever is more favorable to an employee takes precedence.

The law leaves area non-profits such WARC, a Reno organization that employs disable people, in limbo. "We will continue to pay as we have in the past in accordance with federal guidelines," says WARC Executive Director James Meyer.

But that reprieve from paying the new minimum wage only flies because the 90-day trainee exemption buys non-profits some time. But then what? "We haven't crossed that bridge yet," says Meyer.

Meanwhile, he is meeting with directors from other non-profit agencies to write guidelines they will then submit to the state labor commissioner.