Brian Williams It's a part of American life, when something is no longer useful to you,
you give it to Goodwill. You drop it in the Goodwill box,
perhaps in the supermarket parking lot near you,
and you've then done something good, with something you no longer consider good.
You may know that Goodwill donation centers employ disabled workers,
but you may not realize that some of those workers are legally exempt from minimum wage protection.
That means that some end up making just pennies per hour.
It is legal, but tonight, Harry Smith takes on the question of fairness.
Harry Smith: Goodwill, a place where you feel good about leaving your old clothes,
a place where you feel good about shopping in a tough economy.
Goodwill's mission is give jobs to people who are down on their luck, or have a disability.
Goodwill does a lot of good, no question about it.
But in back rooms like this one, in Great Falls, Montana,
out of sight of donors and shoppers
there is something going on that many disabled people do not feel so good about.
People with disabilties working for less than the federal minimum wage of
of $7.25 an hour. There are even places in America where Goodwill workers
earn as little as $0.22 an hour. And because of a loophole in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938,
it's all perfectly legal
Sheila Leland: That's ridiculous.
Harry Smith: Harold and Sheila Leland have been married for more than twenty years. Both are blind and both have college degrees.
Sheila worked at the Goodwill facility in Great Falls, Montana, earning about $3.50 an hour for four years.
She says she quit last summer when they lowered her wage to $2.75 an hour.
Sheila Leland: At $2.75, it would barely cover my cost of getting to work. I wouldn't make any money.
Harry Smith: They call the facility "the plant," and Harold still works there.
It operates what's called a "sheltered workshop."
Here the disabled get virtually guaranteed employment, but they are not guaranteed minimum wage.
And that doesn't matter to some of the workers. Jeremy Davidson loves it here.
Harry Smith: You love it here?
Jeremey Davidson: I love it here, more than the world, yes. I also love NASCAR, but this and NASCAR are my two favorite things in life.
Harry Smith: But for others, it is a dead end, a job of last resort in a world in which there are few options.
What's your wage right now?
$5.46 an hour.
$5.46 an hour?
And that could change in a few months.
It could change because sheltered workshop wages are determined by a speed test
every six months
Goodwill staff use a stop watch to see how many items of clothing
Harold can hang in a minute.
You're allowed two mistakes, and then anything else after that
your quality is considered poor.
So, your perecentage of wage goes down.