The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides for the employment of certain individuals at wage rates below the statutory minimum. Such individuals include student-learners (vocational education students), as well as full-time students employed in retail or service establishments, agriculture, or institutions of higher education. Also included are individuals whose earning or productive capacities are impaired by a physical or mental disability, including those related to age or injury, for the work to be performed. Employment at less than the minimum wage is authorized to prevent restriction of opportunities for employment.

This has become a huge problem for the disabled community as thousands of people with disabilities get paid less than 1 dollar for their work. States like Minnesota, who has a large population of people with disabilities working in these "sheltered workshops", are working towards ending the sub minimum wage as it is exploitive and many deem it as a violation of ADA.