2. Equal Rights
3. Labor Standards
4. SW Licenses

Sheltered Workshop Licenses

Rehabilitation Facility / Sheltered Workshop Licenses

• Wisconsin law allows the Department of Workforce Development to license certain rehabilitation facilities and sheltered workshops to pay less than the regular minimum wage to persons with disabilities.
• Licenses are issued for up to two years. New licenses will be issued for the period from the date of issuance through March 31, 2018.
• Wisconsin licensees must also obtain a Certificate from the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, in order to operate a facility that pays less than the federal minimum wage.

A Sheltered Workshop is a rehabilitation facility which is a charitable organization or non-profit institution that carries out a recognized program of rehabilitation for workers with disabilities. The program provides remunerative employment or other occupational rehabilitation activities of an educational or therapeutic nature.

A Work Activity Center is a rehabilitation facility, a workshop, or a physically separated department of a workshop having an identifiable program designed exclusively to provide therapeutic activities for workers with disabilities whose impairments severely weaken productive capacity.

WIOA Requirements

Effective July 22, 2016, Section 511 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) imposes limitations on all employers (including Community Rehabilitation Facilities, Sheltered Workshops, and other disability service providers who also act as employers of people with disabilities) who hold federal certificates that allows them to pay subminimum wages to individuals with disabilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (29 U.S.C. 214(c)). These certificates are also commonly called 14(c) certificates. Specifically, no entity, including a contractor or subcontractor of the entity which holds a 14(c) certificate, may compensate an individual with a disability who is age 24 or younger at a wage that is less than the Federal minimum wage unless certain conditions are met.

The US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division has posted several guidance documents on their website. The guidance documents include a Field Assistance Bulletin 2016-2, a new Fact Sheet 39H, a Letter to Certificate Holders, and certain Key News items.

Note: The Equal Rights Division does NOT enforce these requirements. They are enforced by the US Department of Labor.

Current Valid Licenses

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