Virginia EPIC
Real pay for real jobs.
A statewide innovation partnership eliminating Section 14(c) subminimum wage — with rigorous evaluation, provider transformation, apprenticeship pathways, and national policy dissemination. In partnership with Virginia DARS and DBVI.
The protective argument for 14(c) was empirically thin. So we tested it.
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act let certified employers pay workers with disabilities below the federal minimum wage — in some cases, as little as $0.22 an hour. The standard defense was that without it, employers wouldn't hire. We ran the first national quasi-experimental analysis of that claim across 15 states, using DOL administrative records (2015–24) and CPS data (2009–24).
No statistically detectable aggregate employment decline. A significant drop in welfare participation. A median post-transition wage 20× above the subminimum. The case for 14(c) collapses under the data — and so does the case for delaying the phase-out.
Read the paper Policy briefThe goal isn't to protect people from work. It's to build new pathways into work that pay, dignify, and last — and to produce the evidence that makes those pathways fundable.— Virginia EPIC guiding principle
Section 14(c), undone.
What changes for Virginia workers with disabilities as certificates wind down.
Sheltered placement
- Sub-minimum wages as low as $0.22/hr
- Segregated sheltered workshops
- Stagnant provider business models
- Elevated welfare dependence
- Limited career mobility
Real pay, real jobs
- Median wage 20× above the sub-minimum
- Community work, integrated teams
- Providers transformed to CIE models
- Welfare dependence down 12.4%
- Apprenticeship pathways into sectors
Evaluation. Education. Apprenticeship. Policy.
EPIC is not a single study. It's four coordinated streams of work, each feeding the next.
Rigorous Evaluation
Quasi-experimental analysis of the Virginia transition using DOL 14(c) certificate data, Virginia DARS caseload records, and CPS microdata — with staggered-adoption comparison across 15 states. The anchoring paper appeared in Labour Economics (2026).
Stakeholder Curriculum
Plain-language training and toolkits for families, self-advocates, case managers, and policymakers — translating what the 14(c) wind-down actually changes day-to-day.
Provider Transformation
Technical assistance for sheltered-workshop operators and community rehabilitation providers converting to competitive integrated employment business models. Participating providers converted at 3× the rate of non-participants.
National Dissemination
Working papers, policy briefs, Congressional briefings, and peer-reviewed submissions — so the Virginia evidence informs federal and other-state decisions on Section 14(c) transitions.
The data, interactive.
Three Tableau-hosted dashboards with live data feeds for state agency partners, advocates, and researchers. Built for Virginia EPIC and adopted by other-state transition teams.
Six-year innovation horizon.
From federal award to final evaluation — with first-wave peer review midstream.
Award & launch
$4.29M DIF award. MOUs with DARS and DBVI. Evaluation framework published.
Baseline & briefs
Administrative-data linkage complete. First stakeholder briefings. Subminimum-wage dashboard released.
Provider transformation
TA to providers converting from 14(c). 15-state national analysis underway. First paper accepted at Labour Economics.
CurrentInterim report
Mid-project evaluation. Congressional briefing on early evidence.
Final & handoff
Final report, replication materials, sustained state-funded evaluation capacity.
Published from Virginia EPIC.
State, federal, national, academic.
Working on 14(c) in your state?
Virginia EPIC produces implementation toolkits, provider-transformation playbooks, evaluation consultations, and briefing materials for other states transitioning away from Section 14(c). Academic collaborators welcome on the national evaluation.
Contact project team →