* Mark Maxwell…

An iconic nonprofit thrift store is crying poor in the face of looming payroll increases, and it is announcing plans to layoff disabled employees in order to take on the extra cost.

However, the 501(c)(3) organization pays no taxes, collects state funding, was awarded state contracts, and has special permission from the federal government to pay disabled workers well below the minimum wage floor.

Sharon Durbin, President and Chief Executive Officer at Land of Lincoln Goodwill, told dozens of disabled thrift store workers they would no longer receive a paycheck as a result of the state’s new minimum wage increase, and she warns future job cuts could still be coming to the last 11 remaining disabled employees still on the payroll.

Durbin runs the Central Illinois nonprofit branch that oversees 15 retail locations and more than 450 total employees. She wrote about “upcoming changes to the Vocational Rehabilitation Program” in a letter dated June 14th. Her letter said the program “is funded through the Illinois Department of Human Services,” but the funding “does not cover all of the significant costs of the program.”

The abrupt shift not only comes as disappointing news to dozens of disabled workers in the area, including some who live in group homes without their parents, but it also threatens to weaken the core promise of Goodwill’s mission statement. […]

Durbin’s son, Brian Durbin, was hired onto the Executive Leadership team and makes an annual salary of $95,747 at the nonprofit. […]

Durbin acknowledged that her group already pays the sub-minimum rate for 27 of 50 disabled workers, however, inexplicably, she says the nonprofit is “progressing away from that.” The federal formula requires employers to pay disabled workers based on a productivity scale at a rate commensurate with the work they complete. […]

The organization’s 990 tax documents from 2018 reveal Durbin takes home an annual salary of $164,849 plus another $6,145 in benefits.

Go read the whole thing.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Looks like a deputy governor and a powerful state Senator are quite displeased…

This. @GoodwillIntl ought to be ashamed. https://t.co/OuOLUQPr5w

— Christian Mitchell (@cljmitchell) July 16, 2019

*** UPDATE 2 *** Another legislator…

Seems to me that this is the opposite of what “goodwill” means. Hey @GoodwillIntl - You can’t say our donations “create jobs” when your greed means your clients don’t get paid while your CEO makes $165K & her son makes $95K https://t.co/FjAFQkBd5r

— Rep. Kelly Cassidy (@RepKellyCassidy) July 16, 2019

Senate Majority Leader…

What a sorry excuse for a charity.
The comments I read were ridiculous, disappointing and, frankly, disgusting.

Thread:https://t.co/c98×1fS617

— Kimberly A. Lightford (@LLCoolK_4) July 16, 2019

*** UPDATE 3 *** Ruh-roh…

Land of Lincoln Goodwill CEO Sharon Durbin, who pulled paychecks from disabled workers, happens to share some rather extreme political views on her Facebook page.

Here, she compares liberals to Nazis & suggests lax public school dress codes & sex ed invites school shootings. pic.twitter.com/4ZJA9yogKb

— Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) July 16, 2019

Durbin also posted this meme saying "everyone outside of Chicago has no voice" in Illinois. She worked for IDOT under the Blagojevich administration, and her nonprofit receives state funding and state contracts. pic.twitter.com/JiJTvZ4qD2

— Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) July 16, 2019

*** UPDATE 4 *** This info was also posted in comments earlier today…

It's interesting when you look at their 990s - CEO Sharon Durbin made $134,912 in 2014 and increased to $164,849 in 2017 (current 990). CFO Ron Culves made $49,845 in 2014 and increased to $106,063 in 2017. But they can't manage the increase in minimum wage? BS.

— Kathy Robinson ???? (@Real__librarian) July 16, 2019

*** UPDATE 5 *** I followed up and was told that a committee hearing “is something we are currently reviewing”…

News that Land of Lincoln Goodwill in Springfield is laying off dozens of workers with disabilities without a valid explanation is drawing concern from State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield).

“It is disheartening that Goodwill would use false excuses to terminate the employment of reliable, hardworking staff with disabilities in Illinois,” Morrison said.

Morrison – who is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee and founder of the Special Needs Caucus – passed a series of measures this year aimed at increasing state employment of individuals with disabilities, all aimed at breaking down the barriers to employment.

Sharon Durbin, the President and Chief Executive Officer at Land of Lincoln Goodwill in Springfield, communicated to laid off employees the reason for their job loss was due to the state’s recent enactment of a minimum wage increase. Because they hire workers with disabilities, however, Goodwill is permitted by the U.S. Department of Labor to pay these workers below the minimum wage. In addition, the first increase in Illinois’ minimum wage will not take effect until January 1, 2020.

According to a recent WCIA report, Sharon Durbin’s salary at Land of Lincoln Goodwill is more than $160,000.

In 2018, Goodwill received nearly $400,000 in state grants and contracts solely to be used for workers with disabilities.

“What are these contracts going toward if not for the employment of individuals with disabilities?” Morrison said. “That is something we will be looking into. We need Goodwill to return to its mission of working to lift up those experiencing barriers to employment, especially those with disabilities.”

*** UPDATE 6 *** WMAY’s Jim Leach…

This afternoon on the show: we were scheduled to talk to the CEO of the local Goodwill as a firestorm erupts about their decision to cut jobs for disabled people, but we were told moments ago that she’s now unavailable.

*** UPDATE 7 *** From Kathy Carmody, CEO of the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities…

Community agencies across Illinois that support people with disabilities have had to work vigorously to develop creative and mission-driven solutions to the challenges we face in providing quality and essential services. While the pending long-overdue increase in minimum wage will have a significant fiscal impact on all social service organizations, directly impacting the very people we exist to serve should be the last place an organization goes to balance its ledger.