“Made in America” shouldn’t mean exploiting people with disabilities. We assist corporate and business clients to identify any sheltered workshops in their supply chains and check their wages, workplace conditions, and disability-related practices with precision. We provide critical strategic support to enhance supply chain awareness and transparency and to revise Supply Chain Codes of Conduct to help clients ensure that their supply chains do not undermine their reputations.
Across the country, approximately 500,000 people with disabilities work in factory settings known as sheltered workshops, where they perform manual labor, typically in exchange for sub-minimum wages, and sometimes in exploitative working conditions.
Many companies have already taken steps to ensure that their suppliers do not engage in child labor, human trafficking, unsafe working conditions, or unlawful wage practices. Many even seek certification or assurance that their supplies are in fact “Made in America.” But most companies have yet to find a way to identify whether people with disabilities are performing productive labor in their supply chains or are being exploited.
Today there is a strong and growing consensus among the national disability community, federal and state policymakers, and the business community that people with disabilities can and want to work in typical jobs and make valuable contributions to the workplace.
Nevertheless, companies remain invested in this cheap labor force, while advertising that their goods and services are “Made in America.” Other companies are unaware that they even have a footprint in sheltered workshops because the supply chain is fractured and reliance on independent contractors has made it difficult to trace the workplace conditions and practices of suppliers to their root.
Supply chain survey & audit capabilities
Inclusivity assists clients to identify any sheltered workshops in their supply chains and check their workplace conditions and disability-related practices with precision to ensure suppliers adhere to federal and state laws, including civil rights and labor protections.
- We can audit the payment of subminimum wages, individuals’ access to accommodations, health and safety conditions, employee benefits, and fraudulent practices.
- We provide critical strategic support to enhance supply chain awareness and transparency and help clients ensure that their supply chains do not undermine their reputations.
- We assist clients in familiarizing themselves with their suppliers and with the complex dynamics of the supplier workplace (including wages, hours, working conditions, accommodations, opportunities for promotion, and advancement).
- We recommend actions to build responsible sourcing that reduces reputational risks and liabilities, enhances the client’s bottom line, and promotes the employment of people with disabilities at competitive wages and in working conditions that meet the standards of both federal and state laws.