Pathway CEO Talks Potential Challenges Regarding Recent Dignity In Pay Law

By Benjamin Cox on January 31, 2025 at 9:33am

A local organization that provides opportunities and care to the developmentally disabled is currently making plans for a new state law that affects how they pay some of their workers.

Pathway Services Unlimited Executive Director Ryan Dowd says that the organization is preparing for when the Dignity In Pay Act takes full effect in 2029. The act removes sub-minimum wage pay for workers in the federal 14c program. The federally administered program allowed certain vetted groups to pay certain workers below the minimum wage.

Dowd says he understands why other organizations may feel like they are in limbo with the new law: “We feel like we have a pretty good grip on what it will mean for us over time. While we support the fact that everyone should at least make minimum wage, I do think there is some unintended consequences for folks that could still make a little bit of money but just don’t work at that level of productivity. Unfortunately, it will take paychecks away from those folks, which we don’t support. We understand that are some organizations that have some grants in place to try and help places like Pathway and Elm City that do use 14c as a way to transition out of that.”

Dowd says that he hopes the grant funding will be available to help with the transition for some of their workers in the 14c program so they can be paid for their work. Dowd says that some workers who maybe only do less than 10 hours of work a week because of their capabilities will likely be hurt the most, and likely will not be getting checks.

Dowd says that paying the minimum wage is not a new concept to some of Pathway’s workers, as there are some of their workers who actually are paid above minimum wage based on their abilities and volume of work.

Dowd says one fear he still has with the bill is the evaporation of opportunities completely from those individuals who don’t work at higher skill level but still want the ability to earn a paycheck: “If the law is enacted the way we anticipate, then those opportunities would go completely away from those folks. That’s the part that we are having trouble with. Then, it feels like we are going back to a more leisure-type setting for those folks or an adult-style daycare for more of like a training versus a working environment. Some folks we might be able to train where they can work, and get to that higher capacity for a competitive wage. I do worry that those that get easily distracted or bored or don’t have the abilities, we’re just never going to get them to a point where they can make a competitive wage and then they lose out. That’s the fear for me anyway and for us here is that all of a sudden they are not making any money and they are just pacifying their day, which is not what we want.”

Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer said in a previous interview that there is a possibility for trailer legislation to help offset some of the benchmarks in the program, or allow certain businesses and groups to opt-in to the federal 14c program.