Op-ED: "Why the Disability Earnings Cap is Holding People Back."
DABC is advocating for the abolition of the Annual earning exemption limit for PWD recipients. Read our op-ed, published today by The Tyee, here: https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/07/04/Disability-Earnings-Cap-Holding-People-Back/.
From the op-ed:
“As an employer, I feel disgusted by the fact that I am complicit in working within the constraints of an ableist system. It’s a system that forces disabled employees to make choices about their work based on how much a person on disability assistance is allowed to earn as employment income before they are rendered ineligible for PWD income — income that is a lifeline as much as it is constraining, and not enough.”
DABC and others ask Ministry to remove earnings restrictions
Did you know disabled workers can only earn $16,200 a year before they lose access to their disability benefits? And when they lose access to their disability benefits it sometimes can mean they lose access to other entitlements such as housing.
Living Wage Employers who want to do the right thing face a difficult dilemma – do they pay their disabled staff less by offering them fewer hours than their non-disabled peers or do they let their staff lose access to the support they’re entitled to?
We’ve partnered with Living Wage for Families BC and BC Poverty Reduction Coalition on an open letter to Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson, to ask her to use the upcoming review of the Poverty Reduction Strategy to remove these restrictions and allow disabled workers to earn a Living Wage. 50 other employers have also signed the letter.
Read the letter and share: https://www.livingwageforfamilies.ca/openletter
Press release: https://tinyurl.com/3kykdkpz