Mary Jones takes pride in the neatly tucked corners of her bed and the spotless countertops of her kitchen in the small efficiency apartment she calls home in northern New Jersey. A little sign next to the front door reminds her: “Success starts with a single step!”

Born partially blind and with cerebral palsy, Jones savors the independence of living on her own with just weekly visits from an aide. So when she was offered work at a local Goodwill charity store in the fall of 2012, Jones said, she looked forward to the independence of a job. But the reality was much different.

“They had me downstairs in their store, trying to hang clothes up on the hangers,” Jones said. “And to make a dollar, I had to hang a hundred pieces. If I was lucky, I made 50 cents. It was a penny per item of clothing. I felt worthless. I just didn’t want to go. They made me feel bad because I couldn’t work fast enough.” Jones is not using her real name out of a fear of retribution.

Jones’ pay stubs, which she shared with Al Jazeera, show the subminimum wages she was paid by Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey Inc. Between September 2012 and January 2013, she made as little as $3.27 for 24.88 hours of work. The biggest check she received was $18.18 for 35.87 hours of work. She paid state taxes, as well as Social Security and Medicare deductions, on her wages.

But the subminimum wage Jones was paid is legal, thanks to section 14C of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act. Passed in 1938 and known as the Special Minimum Wage Certificate, the law allows more than 3,300 employers nationwide to pay people with disabilities below federal minimum wage.

Goodwill Industries said less than 7 percent of its workforce — about 7,500 employees — is paid this way nationwide. Goodwill has defended its use of the Special Minimum Wage Certificate, saying, “Eliminating this program would harm, not help, people with significant and multiple disabilities.”

Goodwill declined to be interviewed for this article, but previously, company spokesman Brad Turner-Little has told Al Jazeera: “We at Goodwill believe work is an important part of the human experience and the human spirit, and the certificate allows us to incorporate people into our workforce that we otherwise wouldn’t necessarily be able to without the certificate.”

Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey Inc. reported assets of $38 million in 2012. Tax returns show its CEO earned $467,000 in compensation.