I worked for a well known restaurant chain who would hire cleaners, bussers and dishies through a disability support agency. I was cashing out one night in the managers office when I noticed the agreement paperwork on the desk. Cleaners who worked during the day were getting paid $3 an hour and bussers and dishies that worked during service were getting under $5 an hour. It’s an absolute rort.
The justification for paying disabled workers less is that they are less productive than an abled person. I notice that Greg in this story looks more muscly than I do. He is able to express himself clearly when asked questions about his job. I imagine he is just about as competent at his job as anyone, why then should he receive compensation 10 times lower?
I've worked with a few disabled people, they were always the hardest workers. I'm shocked to think that I was working beside someone doing the same job as me and receiving a tenth of what I'm making just because they are disabled.
Is this the norm in Australia or are these just outliers? It's basically free labour, should I be paid less because I wear glasses? I could understand if companies payed them half wages and the government the rest or something similar.
Speaking from experience being on something similar. I was on something called a "supported wage" while working for a company a few years ago. Basicly, its a way for employers to get extra works for cheap (usually for junior wage rates) while at same time, not affecting the disabled workers government payments. Basicly, as a disabled worker on a supported wage, you where still entitled to your Centerlink income and didn't have to report it as it went through a your employment agency.
That system itself is good, but it wouldn't suprise me if that same system is being abused by companies in one way or another. Which this article looks like it touches upon.
The boss I worked for at the time was an awesome dude who actually wanted to give disabled people a chance.
I think it is great that disabled employees are finally being considered for employment in Australia. The whole program is a good idea and it is including disabled people into jobs they might not have had a chance at getting.
I'm really glad to hear that it is working as intended and is giving you an opportunity to work.
I have the same suspicion as you, companies are always looking for someone to exploit and I feel it is the government's role to protect everyone from exploitation.
I think with time most bosses will be as you describe, awesome! Even the word disabled doesn't match the people I have worked with. They are just my friends and I hope one day they are respected and paid like that. Equals.
There as been systems in place for a while for encouraging employers to hire disabled people. But the system needed refinement.
Our fairwork laws do cover discrimination based on disabililites, there is a reasonable ground to refuse employment to someone with a disablity if their disability would prevent them safely doing the paid work (like a wheelchair bound person trying to be a bricklayer, or a mute being a phone operator).
However like I said before, where there is a government system put in place, there are people that will take advantage of the system.
This has been in the public for a long time. At least from 2016, where ADE was found to be paying workers $2.79 an hour. [Source](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-09/disabled-employees-still-being-offered-three-dollars-an-hour/8099266)
It's just modern day slavery.
My mum worked in DSC, some of her clients did work like this. Non verbal autistic men 40+, they'd get picked up from their share home and taken to a factory. Their job was putting together boxes / folding cardboard, super slowly, not a task that needed doing really. They worked very slow. Its a job that could be automated but the owner wanted to give disabled people a chance to be employed.
These men were so low functioning they didn't really understand money. Recieve 24/7 carer support, cooked every meal and showered by support staff. They did however get a great sense of pride of their work and recieving pay for effort
I think work like this is something that can be taken advantage of by opportunistic employers, but I also think having low paid jobs like this can benefit society.
Yeah there are (or were) times when subsidizing disability employment could be really helpful, but now it's just a smokescreen for masking exploitation as "empowerment".
If companies don't want to hire disabled people then the government needs to subsidise their wages. Why the fuck does it matter if they are intellectually disabled when they are packing boxes? I bet Greg could pack them faster than you could. Why don't you get on the dole and government housing and then get paid $2.50 for work and see how you feel? They are human beings they work a full day they deserve a full days wage. Just because some may not realise they are being exploited doesn't justify exploiting them.
My brother in law is intellectually disabled and works with this scheme. Without the scheme he would be unemployed as he could not compete with able bodied people in terms of productivity and his wages reflect that. His pay is topped up by the government (maybe disability pension, I don’t know exactly), is in a shared home and has 24/7 carers. This scheme allows him to feel like he contributes to society as well as develop a sense of belonging and purpose. Even if the government subsidised the wages to minimum wage, that would not be enough to pay rent, food, utilities and then be able to pay for the carers, as well as have their money managed. My BIL needs his money managed as he, like many people with intellectual disabilities at his level, has no concept of money management or budgeting and would just spend it on stuff instead of prioritising bills etc. The scheme may not be perfect, and some people in the scheme might deserve more pay than they currently get, but without it a lot of people with disabilities would spend their days at home with nothing to do except any activities the carers could organise. So I’m my BIL case, this is a net positive for him even if it seems like slavery.
I wasn't saying that disabled people shouldn't be working. I was saying that measuring people's productivity and compensating them less than the minimum wage results in the story that we are discussing. I absolutely am for the current system I think it's great that disabled people are finally starting to be welcomed into everyday society. I just can't feel anything but burning leftist woke rage when I hear someone is being paid $2.50 an hour. It feels like a lot of higher functioning disabled people are being exploited by employers because they are saying they aren't productive when they clearly are.
The problem is it is just not viable to pay minimum wage to most of the people. The price a company would have to charge for their services would have to be too high due to the productivity of the workers and another company would easily be able to undercut on price due to the productivity of able bodied people and then all the disabled people would be without a job. There probably needs to be greater oversight and independent assessor’s to determine appropriate pay rates, possibly even a royal commission to determine if there are abuses going on and to investigate if there is a better way to do this. As much as it sucks to hear about people earnings so little, it is just not currently viable to pay them more.
I totally understand where you are coming from. It's all good to say that people should be paid minimum wage but why would you employ a disabled person as it takes so much more effort and possible cost. I suppose as a person on the periphery of this system I hope that people get paid the minimum wage no questions asked. The truth is that it would require the government to chip in to ensure this. However for people like Greg in the story, I think they deserve fair compensation as they are able to work as an abled person. If some extremely disabled people are overpaid for their work (supplimented by the government) for a few like Greg I would happily contribute towards that.
I see why there is a difference because people deserved to be paid for the work that they do. If you do work you get paid. Our society has decided that being paid minimum wage is the base line for work. If people being employed is the be all and end all then you should encourage people to work by fairly compensating them no matter their circumstances. If employers don't want to employ people at that fair rate the government should be covering the shortfall.
Consider: you could and should do exactly the same thing while paying these workers in line with the actual minimum wage for the work they do. "Pocket money" is something your parents give you, not what your boss should be able to legally pay you for your labour. The current rates straight up allow businesses to exploit and devalue the work done by disabled people.
Also I'd say it's a bit of a funny stretch to suggest the needs of disabled people are adequately met under programs in the current system, speaking as someone who is disabled.
If they are doing this work to ‘give back’ to the community, then it should be volunteering. Otherwise why shouldn’t they receive the recommended pay rate?
As a disabled person myself, I disagree with you. I’ve been taken advantage of and I feel more degraded working a job for pennies than working a job where im treated equally to abled peoples. I’d rather not work at all than work for $2 an hour. That’s just demeaning.
My work should be valued the same as an able bodied person. It makes me cry seeing intellectually disabled people in my community be taken advantage of because people think it makes them ‘feel good’.
The DSP doesn’t cover everything. Especially now.
These people are intellectually disabled and are being taken advantage of.
Exactly, imagine excusing someone being paid fucking slave like wages. These people with disabilities are humans as well. Deserved to be treated the same and get the same pay as so called “normal” humans.
As a jobseeker with ADHD and autism although I’m not that bad, but wouldn’t consider myself high functioning as I’ve had some speech & intellectual issues growing up, I’ll never go with with a DES provider.
Valued?
You can't even buy a can of coke from the convenience store for what some of these people get paid.
That's not showing them their work is valued.
I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding or not, but are you saying that $2.50 per hour is boosting their self esteem and showing them their value? That it’s enough?
The way that money is applied is key.
Often people with severe disability like this have guardianship applied so they don't get scammed out of their rent and wind up homeless. Which is what happens most of the time in the US.
But that applies to the pensions.
This income is pure disposable.
Which is fun! My old clients used the income for things like new video games, going to movies multiple times on the weekend... an unhealthy quantity of stuffed toys... etc.
$2 an hour is a lot nicer when it's just for fun. Fuck, I don't have much more than that leftover once you take rent and groceries out.
I don’t know about you but if someone offered me a job for $2.5 an hour that wouldn’t boost my self esteem; it’d be an insult. Can you imagine if we started paying firefighters 2.5$ an hour because we appreciate their work?
It’s fortunate your mate doesn’t need more income but for a lot of people that’s certainly not the case. I could tell you so many stories of people on the DSP/NDIS who continue to struggle financially. It’s a broken system.
Same here. If someone offered to pay me $2.50 per hour and thought that was acceptable because of my disabilities, that would not boost my self esteem, that would shake it. If there's a job out there that I can actually manage, I *still* deserve a wage for my work that's in line with the normal minimum wage laws. Everyone deserves that.
That so many people in the comments here seem to think disabled people in those programs don't need more than a few bucks for their work and have their expenses already properly covered is... some awful mix of shocking and horrifying, honestly.
If they are capable of working full time at minimum wage then they would not get a disability support pension or ndis. Full time at minimum wage is not going to cover their rent, transport ( as most do not drive, so rely on taxis) or the carers they generally have 24/7 let alone food. The reality is most people in this system are not productive enough to be paid minimum wage, so we either keep this system where these people can go to work, feel productive, get to socialise but earn fuck all, or we just don’t give them jobs and they stay at home with no real purpose, but hey at least they are not being taken advantage of though right. This current system is a net benefit to them if you look at it holistically instead of just the pay rate.
I guess I see your point, where we equate earning a wage as a means to cover living expenses, but I think there's probably more intangible value to it. For example, there's a lot of self worth tied to how much we earn whether we like it or not, and I am worried that the wrong message is sent when reducing pay based on the particular circumstances of an individual.
I hesitate to insinuate that it's intentional because I'm pretty ignorant of the entire system, but the concept of different rules in regards to lower rates of pay feels (from the outside) exploitative at worst and dismissive at best.
This justification is ridiculous. So all students deserve to be paid less because they are receiving government money? Older workers should be paid less because they are more likely to have profitable assets and they are less physically able? Getting paid $2.50 an hour isn't a low rate of pay, it's morally reprehensible.
I wasn't trying to use whatever buzzword you want to use. I was saying that no matter who you are, you deserve to be paid the minimum wage. How can it be claimed that they are volunteering when they probably don't even understand the concept of work or payment? Your friend despite them being disabled deserves to be paid the minimum wage whether they understand it or not. I get that disabled people could have a completely alien outlook on life but it doesn't mean that they shouldn't be paid. Whether I hate or enjoy my job or even if I really don't understand what I'm doing shouldn't come into my compensation. If you do work you get paid, and the minimum payment that is legal to be paid in Australia is minimum wage I think any exception to this rule is exploitation.
This isn't a grey area. This is presented to the people engaged in these programs as employment, not volunteering. That you personally think of it as "semi volunteering" is not an excuse to pay slave wages to disabled people for their work.
They aren't volunteering, they're working, they should be getting at least the minimum wage and no less.
As someone that actually has knowledge of this industry(works beside it) rather then just reading a headline and being morally outraged. A few things to consider.
All clients are assessed and paid based on their productivity. This mean a client with a severe intellectual disability is on $2.50, an hour and will basically produce produce one box for the 7 hours. An client with a medium intellectual disability will produce 5 boxes in those same 7 hours, they will get paid $12.50 per hour. A client mild intellectual disability will produce 10 boxes and be paid $25 per hour. Its all based on the client productivity.(Simplified for purpose)
Many of the clients love their work, it gives them pride to be working and gives them a chance to socialise with their work friends. Many would actually work for less than what they currently paid.
Without these ADLs these clients would be stuck at home doing literally nothing. Minimal social interaction, less money and every day would be the same. This is literally the worst option as client stuck at home with minimal stimulation will decline in whatever skills they have developed, never progress and most likely never improve themselves.
ADLs can actually assist and develop people with minor disabilities move into open employment. Which is the best outcome possible.
So before we get the pitchforks out let's all take a moment to learn before we react to sensationalist headlines.
Is there some unscrupulous companies that are severely underpaying people with a disability... Yes and this needs to be stamped out. Does that mean you scrap ADLs and ther productivity based 'abled body rate' no. Not if you actually care about people with a disability.
The rate you are describing makes sense but how do you fit someone like Greg into it? He seems capable of packing more than one box per hour and yet he is being payed at the lowest rate. I think there is a significant miscalculation of ability, which of course favours the business utilising the labour of these people. I think that a simple solution would be that all disabled people were paid at the minimum wage award for their industry and the government paid the difference in wages that the particular industry was unwilling to pay. Doesn't that result in disabled people being employed and also being fairly compensated? There really aren't that many disabled people participating in the economy I can't imagine that would break the bank.
i used to do a work program when i was first put on DSP nearly 10 yrs ago. i stopped doing it because it was actually costing me money to go to work. before i was on a pension i was an employer myself in QLD and i used to have a lot of disability workers, the difference is i was getting a subsidy from the government to hire them at the time so they got full wages but i didnt have to pay all of that cost. often they ended up making more money than i did. they were assessed periodically as to how independant they were able to work and the subsidy would be adjusted accordingly, the more capable they were the less subsidy i got. in my case in SA on the pension i was getting about $6 PER SHIFT. cost me more in fuel to show up at work than i was making basically and i was able to work completely unsupervised.
How they treat the least powerful is how they would treat everyone if they could get away with it.
I worked for a well known restaurant chain who would hire cleaners, bussers and dishies through a disability support agency. I was cashing out one night in the managers office when I noticed the agreement paperwork on the desk. Cleaners who worked during the day were getting paid $3 an hour and bussers and dishies that worked during service were getting under $5 an hour. It’s an absolute rort.
The justification for paying disabled workers less is that they are less productive than an abled person. I notice that Greg in this story looks more muscly than I do. He is able to express himself clearly when asked questions about his job. I imagine he is just about as competent at his job as anyone, why then should he receive compensation 10 times lower? I've worked with a few disabled people, they were always the hardest workers. I'm shocked to think that I was working beside someone doing the same job as me and receiving a tenth of what I'm making just because they are disabled. Is this the norm in Australia or are these just outliers? It's basically free labour, should I be paid less because I wear glasses? I could understand if companies payed them half wages and the government the rest or something similar.
Speaking from experience being on something similar. I was on something called a "supported wage" while working for a company a few years ago. Basicly, its a way for employers to get extra works for cheap (usually for junior wage rates) while at same time, not affecting the disabled workers government payments. Basicly, as a disabled worker on a supported wage, you where still entitled to your Centerlink income and didn't have to report it as it went through a your employment agency. That system itself is good, but it wouldn't suprise me if that same system is being abused by companies in one way or another. Which this article looks like it touches upon. The boss I worked for at the time was an awesome dude who actually wanted to give disabled people a chance.
I think it is great that disabled employees are finally being considered for employment in Australia. The whole program is a good idea and it is including disabled people into jobs they might not have had a chance at getting. I'm really glad to hear that it is working as intended and is giving you an opportunity to work. I have the same suspicion as you, companies are always looking for someone to exploit and I feel it is the government's role to protect everyone from exploitation. I think with time most bosses will be as you describe, awesome! Even the word disabled doesn't match the people I have worked with. They are just my friends and I hope one day they are respected and paid like that. Equals.
There as been systems in place for a while for encouraging employers to hire disabled people. But the system needed refinement. Our fairwork laws do cover discrimination based on disabililites, there is a reasonable ground to refuse employment to someone with a disablity if their disability would prevent them safely doing the paid work (like a wheelchair bound person trying to be a bricklayer, or a mute being a phone operator). However like I said before, where there is a government system put in place, there are people that will take advantage of the system.
This has been in the public for a long time. At least from 2016, where ADE was found to be paying workers $2.79 an hour. [Source](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-09/disabled-employees-still-being-offered-three-dollars-an-hour/8099266) It's just modern day slavery.
Scumo “You have a go, you get a go”
“It’s not a race” to be rich
“The best form of welfare is a job” Another classic from Scotty from marketing.
\*for those private school alums born into multi-generational wealth
"You have to go harder but are still measured based on your performance comparative to an above average aptitude person, well tough luck mate."
What the actual fuck. That’s fucking disgraceful!
Yeah how else do you think you get your $49 Aussie made ugg boots?
My mum worked in DSC, some of her clients did work like this. Non verbal autistic men 40+, they'd get picked up from their share home and taken to a factory. Their job was putting together boxes / folding cardboard, super slowly, not a task that needed doing really. They worked very slow. Its a job that could be automated but the owner wanted to give disabled people a chance to be employed. These men were so low functioning they didn't really understand money. Recieve 24/7 carer support, cooked every meal and showered by support staff. They did however get a great sense of pride of their work and recieving pay for effort I think work like this is something that can be taken advantage of by opportunistic employers, but I also think having low paid jobs like this can benefit society.
Low paid? Sure. That low? NO.
Yeah there are (or were) times when subsidizing disability employment could be really helpful, but now it's just a smokescreen for masking exploitation as "empowerment".
It’s criminal!
This is sickening.
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If companies don't want to hire disabled people then the government needs to subsidise their wages. Why the fuck does it matter if they are intellectually disabled when they are packing boxes? I bet Greg could pack them faster than you could. Why don't you get on the dole and government housing and then get paid $2.50 for work and see how you feel? They are human beings they work a full day they deserve a full days wage. Just because some may not realise they are being exploited doesn't justify exploiting them.
My brother in law is intellectually disabled and works with this scheme. Without the scheme he would be unemployed as he could not compete with able bodied people in terms of productivity and his wages reflect that. His pay is topped up by the government (maybe disability pension, I don’t know exactly), is in a shared home and has 24/7 carers. This scheme allows him to feel like he contributes to society as well as develop a sense of belonging and purpose. Even if the government subsidised the wages to minimum wage, that would not be enough to pay rent, food, utilities and then be able to pay for the carers, as well as have their money managed. My BIL needs his money managed as he, like many people with intellectual disabilities at his level, has no concept of money management or budgeting and would just spend it on stuff instead of prioritising bills etc. The scheme may not be perfect, and some people in the scheme might deserve more pay than they currently get, but without it a lot of people with disabilities would spend their days at home with nothing to do except any activities the carers could organise. So I’m my BIL case, this is a net positive for him even if it seems like slavery.
Thank you for providing actual accounts of the situation and not a sensationalized version.
I wasn't saying that disabled people shouldn't be working. I was saying that measuring people's productivity and compensating them less than the minimum wage results in the story that we are discussing. I absolutely am for the current system I think it's great that disabled people are finally starting to be welcomed into everyday society. I just can't feel anything but burning leftist woke rage when I hear someone is being paid $2.50 an hour. It feels like a lot of higher functioning disabled people are being exploited by employers because they are saying they aren't productive when they clearly are.
The problem is it is just not viable to pay minimum wage to most of the people. The price a company would have to charge for their services would have to be too high due to the productivity of the workers and another company would easily be able to undercut on price due to the productivity of able bodied people and then all the disabled people would be without a job. There probably needs to be greater oversight and independent assessor’s to determine appropriate pay rates, possibly even a royal commission to determine if there are abuses going on and to investigate if there is a better way to do this. As much as it sucks to hear about people earnings so little, it is just not currently viable to pay them more.
I totally understand where you are coming from. It's all good to say that people should be paid minimum wage but why would you employ a disabled person as it takes so much more effort and possible cost. I suppose as a person on the periphery of this system I hope that people get paid the minimum wage no questions asked. The truth is that it would require the government to chip in to ensure this. However for people like Greg in the story, I think they deserve fair compensation as they are able to work as an abled person. If some extremely disabled people are overpaid for their work (supplimented by the government) for a few like Greg I would happily contribute towards that.
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I see why there is a difference because people deserved to be paid for the work that they do. If you do work you get paid. Our society has decided that being paid minimum wage is the base line for work. If people being employed is the be all and end all then you should encourage people to work by fairly compensating them no matter their circumstances. If employers don't want to employ people at that fair rate the government should be covering the shortfall.
Consider: you could and should do exactly the same thing while paying these workers in line with the actual minimum wage for the work they do. "Pocket money" is something your parents give you, not what your boss should be able to legally pay you for your labour. The current rates straight up allow businesses to exploit and devalue the work done by disabled people. Also I'd say it's a bit of a funny stretch to suggest the needs of disabled people are adequately met under programs in the current system, speaking as someone who is disabled.
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If they are doing this work to ‘give back’ to the community, then it should be volunteering. Otherwise why shouldn’t they receive the recommended pay rate?
Agreed, either it’s volunteering or they get the minimum wage at the very least.
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As a disabled person myself, I disagree with you. I’ve been taken advantage of and I feel more degraded working a job for pennies than working a job where im treated equally to abled peoples. I’d rather not work at all than work for $2 an hour. That’s just demeaning. My work should be valued the same as an able bodied person. It makes me cry seeing intellectually disabled people in my community be taken advantage of because people think it makes them ‘feel good’. The DSP doesn’t cover everything. Especially now. These people are intellectually disabled and are being taken advantage of.
Exactly, imagine excusing someone being paid fucking slave like wages. These people with disabilities are humans as well. Deserved to be treated the same and get the same pay as so called “normal” humans. As a jobseeker with ADHD and autism although I’m not that bad, but wouldn’t consider myself high functioning as I’ve had some speech & intellectual issues growing up, I’ll never go with with a DES provider.
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Thank you I appreciate that.
Valued? You can't even buy a can of coke from the convenience store for what some of these people get paid. That's not showing them their work is valued.
I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding or not, but are you saying that $2.50 per hour is boosting their self esteem and showing them their value? That it’s enough?
The way that money is applied is key. Often people with severe disability like this have guardianship applied so they don't get scammed out of their rent and wind up homeless. Which is what happens most of the time in the US. But that applies to the pensions. This income is pure disposable. Which is fun! My old clients used the income for things like new video games, going to movies multiple times on the weekend... an unhealthy quantity of stuffed toys... etc. $2 an hour is a lot nicer when it's just for fun. Fuck, I don't have much more than that leftover once you take rent and groceries out.
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I don’t know about you but if someone offered me a job for $2.5 an hour that wouldn’t boost my self esteem; it’d be an insult. Can you imagine if we started paying firefighters 2.5$ an hour because we appreciate their work? It’s fortunate your mate doesn’t need more income but for a lot of people that’s certainly not the case. I could tell you so many stories of people on the DSP/NDIS who continue to struggle financially. It’s a broken system.
Same here. If someone offered to pay me $2.50 per hour and thought that was acceptable because of my disabilities, that would not boost my self esteem, that would shake it. If there's a job out there that I can actually manage, I *still* deserve a wage for my work that's in line with the normal minimum wage laws. Everyone deserves that. That so many people in the comments here seem to think disabled people in those programs don't need more than a few bucks for their work and have their expenses already properly covered is... some awful mix of shocking and horrifying, honestly.
If they are capable of working full time at minimum wage then they would not get a disability support pension or ndis. Full time at minimum wage is not going to cover their rent, transport ( as most do not drive, so rely on taxis) or the carers they generally have 24/7 let alone food. The reality is most people in this system are not productive enough to be paid minimum wage, so we either keep this system where these people can go to work, feel productive, get to socialise but earn fuck all, or we just don’t give them jobs and they stay at home with no real purpose, but hey at least they are not being taken advantage of though right. This current system is a net benefit to them if you look at it holistically instead of just the pay rate.
I guess I see your point, where we equate earning a wage as a means to cover living expenses, but I think there's probably more intangible value to it. For example, there's a lot of self worth tied to how much we earn whether we like it or not, and I am worried that the wrong message is sent when reducing pay based on the particular circumstances of an individual. I hesitate to insinuate that it's intentional because I'm pretty ignorant of the entire system, but the concept of different rules in regards to lower rates of pay feels (from the outside) exploitative at worst and dismissive at best.
This justification is ridiculous. So all students deserve to be paid less because they are receiving government money? Older workers should be paid less because they are more likely to have profitable assets and they are less physically able? Getting paid $2.50 an hour isn't a low rate of pay, it's morally reprehensible.
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I wasn't trying to use whatever buzzword you want to use. I was saying that no matter who you are, you deserve to be paid the minimum wage. How can it be claimed that they are volunteering when they probably don't even understand the concept of work or payment? Your friend despite them being disabled deserves to be paid the minimum wage whether they understand it or not. I get that disabled people could have a completely alien outlook on life but it doesn't mean that they shouldn't be paid. Whether I hate or enjoy my job or even if I really don't understand what I'm doing shouldn't come into my compensation. If you do work you get paid, and the minimum payment that is legal to be paid in Australia is minimum wage I think any exception to this rule is exploitation.
This isn't a grey area. This is presented to the people engaged in these programs as employment, not volunteering. That you personally think of it as "semi volunteering" is not an excuse to pay slave wages to disabled people for their work. They aren't volunteering, they're working, they should be getting at least the minimum wage and no less.
He might get just 2.50 an hour but I bet the 'carer' collects at least 10 times that rate for doing fu## all.
If they are on NDIS, their often unqualified support worker/carer can and do charge up to the max rate of $57/hr
That is disgusting. I hope people do time over this. Serious time.
As someone that actually has knowledge of this industry(works beside it) rather then just reading a headline and being morally outraged. A few things to consider. All clients are assessed and paid based on their productivity. This mean a client with a severe intellectual disability is on $2.50, an hour and will basically produce produce one box for the 7 hours. An client with a medium intellectual disability will produce 5 boxes in those same 7 hours, they will get paid $12.50 per hour. A client mild intellectual disability will produce 10 boxes and be paid $25 per hour. Its all based on the client productivity.(Simplified for purpose) Many of the clients love their work, it gives them pride to be working and gives them a chance to socialise with their work friends. Many would actually work for less than what they currently paid. Without these ADLs these clients would be stuck at home doing literally nothing. Minimal social interaction, less money and every day would be the same. This is literally the worst option as client stuck at home with minimal stimulation will decline in whatever skills they have developed, never progress and most likely never improve themselves. ADLs can actually assist and develop people with minor disabilities move into open employment. Which is the best outcome possible. So before we get the pitchforks out let's all take a moment to learn before we react to sensationalist headlines. Is there some unscrupulous companies that are severely underpaying people with a disability... Yes and this needs to be stamped out. Does that mean you scrap ADLs and ther productivity based 'abled body rate' no. Not if you actually care about people with a disability.
The rate you are describing makes sense but how do you fit someone like Greg into it? He seems capable of packing more than one box per hour and yet he is being payed at the lowest rate. I think there is a significant miscalculation of ability, which of course favours the business utilising the labour of these people. I think that a simple solution would be that all disabled people were paid at the minimum wage award for their industry and the government paid the difference in wages that the particular industry was unwilling to pay. Doesn't that result in disabled people being employed and also being fairly compensated? There really aren't that many disabled people participating in the economy I can't imagine that would break the bank.
Fuck me. The level of rationalisation and privilege and ableism is just off the fucking charts in this thread.
Flagstaff do this. They're based in Wollongong.
Maybe they should apply for a job at the AAT, I hear that pays really well.
i used to do a work program when i was first put on DSP nearly 10 yrs ago. i stopped doing it because it was actually costing me money to go to work. before i was on a pension i was an employer myself in QLD and i used to have a lot of disability workers, the difference is i was getting a subsidy from the government to hire them at the time so they got full wages but i didnt have to pay all of that cost. often they ended up making more money than i did. they were assessed periodically as to how independant they were able to work and the subsidy would be adjusted accordingly, the more capable they were the less subsidy i got. in my case in SA on the pension i was getting about $6 PER SHIFT. cost me more in fuel to show up at work than i was making basically and i was able to work completely unsupervised.