Some members of Congress want to deny welfare recipients federal employment law protection, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race and sex discrimination in employment.

The newly-enacted welfare law requires many welfare recipients to work in "workfare" programs to receive benefits. But the law is silent on whether these workers are to receive the minimum wage and be covered by employment laws or not. After months of lobbying by unions in favor of the minimum wage, and after the Department of Labor prepared a confidential report on the matter, the White House said that workfare recipients are entitled to the minimum wage and coverage by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In response, Rep. E. Clay Shaw wrote into the House budget reconciliation bill a provision that would prohibit workfare recipients from being classified as "employees." The Shaw language would have effectively exempted workfare participants from federal minimum wage laws and other federal employment laws. In response to lobbying by unions and human needs groups, the House budget reconciliation bill now requires states to pay workfare recipients the minimum wage. But it is still unclear whether workfare recipients will be classified as "employees" and covered by federal anti-discrimination and safetylaws.

"If this provision passes, employers could discriminate on the basis of race and sex with impunity when it comes to workfare participants," said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority. Workfare participants are overwhelmingly women.

The workfare provision is not in the Senate bill, but there is concern that the Senate may adopt the House version of the bill.

Governors and members of Congress who wrote the welfare law have said that applying the minimum wage to workfare recipients would make it harder for states to provide work, and reduce the incentive for welfare recipients to find jobs on their own because they would be making minimum wage at a government-provided job. Union leaders said that allowing states to pay less for workfare recipients will take jobs away from non-recipients.