SS/SCS/SB 707 - This act makes various changes regarding sheltered workshops.

The act moves state administration of sheltered workshops from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to the Division of Mentally Retarded and Developmental Disabilities within the Department of Mental Health. The Division Director may appoint such personnel as necessary to implement and supervise the sheltered workshop program.

A sheltered workshop is defined as a long-term employment provider operated by a not-for-profit corporation whose primary purpose is to provide employment for persons with disabilities who meets the state rule regulating such entities. At least seventy-five percent of the membership of the board of the corporation shall be parents of disabled employees.

The act replaces the term "handicapped person" with the term "employee with a disability" which is defined as a person with mental retardation, mental illness, head injury, or other disability certified by the Missouri Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Missouri Rehabilitation Services for the Blind or other certifying agency or professional as agreed to by the Department, and who is formally certified for employment in a sheltered workshop.

If a sheltered workshop can prove to the Department that employees with disabilities account for at least 75% of the workhours of direct labor, and that priority was given in hiring qualified persons with disabilities, then it can hire nondisabled employees to facilitate and maintain employment of persons with disabilities in integrated work settings. The act mandates that no qualified employee with a disability shall be displaced by a nondisabled individual. Nondisabled employees shall receive a salary of at least one hundred and fifty percent of the prevailing minimum wage and shall receive the same benefits as received by workshop supervisors.

A sheltered workshop which hires nondisabled employees shall not receive any state aid from the Department.

Priority of employment of nondisabled employees shall be given in the following order: 1) volunteers; 2) senior citizens; 3) participants in employment programs established pursuant to Chapter 208, RSMo; and 4) allowing supervisors to perform production work. The board of directors and the administrator of the sheltered workshop shall ensure that employees with disabilities are not subjected to mental or verbal abuse by nondisabled employees. Testing for drug use and background checks shall be performed for all supervisors who perform production work and for all employees who are participating in employment programs established pursuant to Chapter 208, RSMo, and no such person shall be employed by the sheltered workshop who has been convicted of a felony criminal offense.

If the board of directors of the sheltered workshop determines that the presence of a nondisabled employee adversely affects the attendance of employees with disabilities, the nondisabled employee shall be dismissed from employment or volunteer participation at the workshop. Upon receipt of a complaint from a parent or guardian of an employee with a disability concerning a nondisabled employee, the board of directors and the administrator shall investigate the complaint and, if the board of directors determines that the complaint is valid, the nondisabled employee shall be dismissed from employment or volunteer participation.

The Department shall approve overall program requests for employment of persons without disabilities, considering the complexity of jobs available, production requirements and the improvement in individual skills and abilities of employees with disabilities due to the integration of nondisabled employees.

The act requires sheltered workshops to make reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
OTTO FAJEN