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What's the BSWAT?
Jan. 18th, 2014 08:29 pm[Some of these words are borrowed, with permission, but these views are all my own]
Aussies, have you heard of the BSWAT? There will probably be press coverage about it over the next week so here’s a quick primer on what it is and why it’s important:
BWAT is a test to determine the wages of a person with a disability working in supported employment - this is what used to be called a "sheltered workshop."
This is how it works:
Take the basic wage for the simplest job you can imagine. Anyone able-bodied going into that job would be paid, for this example, $10 an hour. Then we factor in "productivity" - so if a worker without a disability made ten items an hour, and the worker with a disability made three, they would then be paid $3 an hour. You can argue about whether it’s fair to pay somebody $3 an hour or whether the government should subsidise the other $7 so they are paid the same, but at least it’s logical that if you do 30% of the work you get 30% of the money.
The BSWAT goes a step further. It asks the disabled person questions like "what meetings does your boss attend?", or "what would you do if there was water on the floor?" If you can’t give the "right" answers to these questions, your wage is reduced even more - some people end up receiving only $1.70 per hour! It makes no sense to me to require people with intellectual disabilities to answer questions like "what meetings does your boss attend?" and to change their wages depending on whether they can tell you the answers.
Mr Nojin and Mr Prior took this system to court, and the Federal Court agreed, that yes, the BSWAT tool is discriminatory … BUT it is still in use. 10,000 disabled people in Australia still go to work every day and get paid these wages, calculated using this discriminatory tool.
If this bothers you, please pay attention to the news on Monday 20 January 2014!
PS
If you know someone who is affected by the BSWAT, and who is worried or confused, please direct them to email noni.lord@aed.org.au or or contact the AED on (03) 9639 4333 or at http://www.aed.org.au/
PPS
Feel free to re-share these words.
Aussies, have you heard of the BSWAT? There will probably be press coverage about it over the next week so here’s a quick primer on what it is and why it’s important:
BWAT is a test to determine the wages of a person with a disability working in supported employment - this is what used to be called a "sheltered workshop."
This is how it works:
Take the basic wage for the simplest job you can imagine. Anyone able-bodied going into that job would be paid, for this example, $10 an hour. Then we factor in "productivity" - so if a worker without a disability made ten items an hour, and the worker with a disability made three, they would then be paid $3 an hour. You can argue about whether it’s fair to pay somebody $3 an hour or whether the government should subsidise the other $7 so they are paid the same, but at least it’s logical that if you do 30% of the work you get 30% of the money.
The BSWAT goes a step further. It asks the disabled person questions like "what meetings does your boss attend?", or "what would you do if there was water on the floor?" If you can’t give the "right" answers to these questions, your wage is reduced even more - some people end up receiving only $1.70 per hour! It makes no sense to me to require people with intellectual disabilities to answer questions like "what meetings does your boss attend?" and to change their wages depending on whether they can tell you the answers.
Mr Nojin and Mr Prior took this system to court, and the Federal Court agreed, that yes, the BSWAT tool is discriminatory … BUT it is still in use. 10,000 disabled people in Australia still go to work every day and get paid these wages, calculated using this discriminatory tool.
If this bothers you, please pay attention to the news on Monday 20 January 2014!
PS
If you know someone who is affected by the BSWAT, and who is worried or confused, please direct them to email noni.lord@aed.org.au or or contact the AED on (03) 9639 4333 or at http://www.aed.org.au/
PPS
Feel free to re-share these words.
