For some, working for less than minimum wage a reality

For some, working for less than minimum wage a reality
For some, working for less than minimum wage a reality

For some, working for less than minimum wage a reality

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A growing number of Americans work in jobs that are not protected by standard labor laws. For the Front and Center series Exceptions to the Rule, WBEZ reporter Shannon Heffernan focuses on people who by law or practice are outside the reach of some labor laws. Shannon and Sarah Leberstein, a staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project, look at low-wage work and how it affects people’s lives and families. Renee Luna, a community organizer with Access Living, discusses the unique challenges for disabled workers. EDIT (9/19/13): A correction was made to the story that aired in this broadcast, to hear and read the revised story please go here. In addition, reporter Shannon Heffernan misspoke on air. She broadly spoke about the federal exemptions as applying to domestic workers (nannies, house cleaners and home care workers), though the federal minimum wage and overtime exemptions only applied to home care workers. She also said (in response to a guests mention of state level protections for home care workers) that Illinois doesn’t have those protections. It is true that Illinois does not have a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights as some other states do, and that is what she was meaning to reference. However, it is important to note that Illinois does cover home care workers under it’s minimum wage law. But there may be room for loopholes. According the Department of Labor, private households may not have to pay their home care workers minimum wage, because of a general exemption for employers with less than four employees. (Photo:Evil Eryn/Flickr)