Bill quietly expands subminimum wages for young workers with disabilities
S. 4984 — Restoration of Employment Choice for Adults with Disabilities Act · Filed by Tom Cotton (R-AR) · Introduced Jul 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Rehabilitation Act to expand the use of subminimum wage employment for people with disabilities. It lowers the age threshold from 24 to 18, changes the legal standard from a prohibition ("no entity may pay subminimum wage unless...") to a permission ("any entity may pay subminimum wage if..."), adds individual choice as a justification, and weakens the requirement that employers make good-faith efforts to transition workers to competitive wages by allowing them to satisfy obligations through documented contact attempts with state vocational rehabilitation agencies—even if those agencies fail to respond.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a legal inversion: it changes the Rehabilitation Act's default from prohibiting subminimum wages (with narrow exceptions) to permitting them (with weak conditions). The title frames this as 'restoration of choice,' but the text weakens worker protections and employer transition obligations.
What the text implies
- The shift from 'No entity may pay subminimum wage unless [conditions]' to 'Any entity may pay subminimum wage if [conditions]' inverts the legal burden: employers no longer bear the burden of proving they meet strict conditions; workers must affirmatively 'choose' subminimum work or employers must merely document contact attempts with state agencies.
- Lowering the age threshold from 24 to 18 expands the pool of young workers eligible for subminimum wages, potentially creating a permanent low-wage track for workers with disabilities entering the labor market during formative years.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
employers of workers with disabilities (sheltered workshops, day programs, entities using subminimum; entities holding Section 14(c) certificates under the Fair Labor Standards Act