John Hrabe, a freelance journalist, on May 15, 2013, posted on HUFFPOST BUSINESS’S THE BLOG, an article entitled Goodwill Minimum Wage Loophole Will Shock You.

He begins the article by saying forthrightly, “Goodwill Industries is the worst charity in America.”

In a recent investigation for Watchdog.org, Hrabe  reported “…that a majority of Goodwill entities in the United States pay people with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, while the same Goodwills simultaneously spent tens of millions of dollars per year on executive compensation and travel related expenses.”

The reason that Goodwill industries are able to pay their people with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage is because a number of Goodwill entities can employ their workers by using the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 which was signed into law by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. This law allowed employers to apply for special wage certificates that allows them to hire people with disabilities at a ‘subminimum wage’.

As reported by Hrabe, “according to Goodwill, 7300 of its 105,000 employees are subject to the minimum wage exemption that affects 300,000 workers nationwide.” Hrabe also revealed that “these same Goodwill entities that use the special wage program simultaneously spent $53.7 million in total executive compensation.”

This Special Wage Certificate program was set up during the Depression-era to help alleviate some of the problems the unemployed poor were struggling with during that period of our country’s history.

We must keep in mind that the “subminimum wage” that literally amounted to pennies on the dollar, (20 cents per hour), which might have been more appropriate in 1938, but considering the substantial increase of financial needs to equal today’s standard of living for every American citizen, the “subminimum wage” would have to be substantially larger now, compared  to the economic needs in 1938.

Currently, the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. California’s minimum wage is $8.00.

Hrabe mentioned that last year, Brad Turner-Little, the director of admissions strategy at Goodwill International, Inc., defended Goodwill’s wage policies and practices by saying, “With 80 percent of working age adults with disabilities in our country not participating in the workforce currently, we believe that it’s important to explore more types of opportunities.” He further said that “The special minimum wage certificate is a tool to create employment for people with disabilities. It’s not the only tool.”

Hrabe reports that in the past journalists countrywide have been documenting Goodwill’s abuses for years. For example, last August, Evrod Cassimy, a reporter for the local CBS channel in Denver, “exposed” that some workers were being paid “just 20 cents an hour.” Hrabe goes on to say, “The same month, the North County Times’ Morgan Cook reported on the $3.32 hourly wage paid to San Diego’s county’s Goodwill worker. In February 2013, the News Observers Josh Shaffer first broke the story of the husband-wife Goodwill executive team that takes home nearly $800,000 per year in total compensation. The couple’s compensation package includes ‘membership at Raleigh’s exclusive Capital City Club.’”

Hrabe reports that “Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) has introduced Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, H.R. 831,to close the subminimum wage loophole.” He further states “The bill, according to GovTrack, has just ‘a 1% chance of being enacted.’”

Earlier in the blog, Hrabe mentioned that Beyonce is a big supporter of Goodwill Industries and has urged her fans to support the donation drives at her North American concerts.

He ends his blog by saying, “Oh and one more thing, if you go to one of Beyonce’s summer concerts, look for that Goodwill box. You’ll presumably find it “to the left, to the left.” Drop her a note that explains why you don’t support the worst charity in America.” (italics mine)

Obviously, Hrabe views Goodwill management as practicing unfair wage practices whenever they practice their paying their handicapped workers our country’s 1938 “subminimum” wages. He has politicized  the argument by viewing Beyonce’s summer concert’s Goodwill box contributions as being “to the left, to the left,” further stating, “Drop her a note that explains why you don’t support the worst charity in America.”

What Goodwill Industries is practicing is not a Democratic or Republican problem, but rather, an American predicament. The reason it’s a problem of some dimension is because it’s so unfair and so un-American to treat our fellow citizens with so much disdain and disregard.