A bill ending the practice of paying subminimum-wages for people with disabilities is about to become law in South Carolina, ensuring over 1 million people are part of the state’s competitive workforce.

Officials from Gov. Henry McMaster’s office said the governor has every intention of signing the bill into law by May 24.

An estimated 1,000 state residents currently work in sheltered workshops, where people with disabilities are paid below federal minimum wage. The U.S. Social Security Administration defines a sheltered workshop as a private non-profit, state, or local government institution that provides employment opportunities for individuals who are developmentally, physically or mentally impaired to prepare for gainful work in the general economy.

Employers who pay below minimum wage — which is the federally recognized $7.25 per hour in the Palmetto State — are normally agencies that work with people with disabilities to help them find more permanent work.

Kimberly Tissot, CEO of Able SC, a statewide nonprofit that provides independent living services to people with disabilities, said many of those workers end up staying at these workshops for years on end or are stuck doing mundane and repetitive tasks that don’t prepare them for a traditional workplace.

Able SC works with many of the individuals who worked in sheltered workshops for years at a time, some of them making $3 per hour on a 9-5 daily schedule.

In some cases, people with disabilities are sent to these...

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