Patient Work Under Fair Labor Standards: The Issue in Perspective

The 1973 federal court ruling in Souder v. Brennan required that patient workers in institutions for the mentally ill and mentally retarded be paid in accordance with the minimum wage and other provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The author believes that ruling, which ran contrary to widely accepted institutional practices, is more readily understandable when viewed in the broader context of wage-and-hour legislation. He presents a brief history of the legislation, discusses the provisions relating to the employment of handicapped workers included in the 1966 amendments, and emphasizes that one basic principle underlies all the regulations and procedures: a patient must be paid what he earns. He also urges increased attention to the clinical design of compensated work systems to promote therapeutic and rehabilitative objectives.