ST. ALBANS — Reaction was fierce Wednesday after the Bangor Daily News reported that a Maine nonprofit paid some of its workers with disabilities as little as $2 an hour while paying top managers six-figure salaries.

The report reveals that St. Albans company Skills Inc. is the only company in Maine that pays some workers less than minimum wage.

Across social media, reaction was fast and furious.

“This makes me sick,” wrote one Bangor woman, on the newspaper Facebook page.

“Deplorable on every level,” wrote another.

The BDN published the story Wednesday morning. By mid-afternoon, the story had been shared more than 300 times on Facebook alone and hundreds weighed in with their thoughts.

“As a parent to a teenager with multiple disabilities, I would be enraged if my daughter was treated this way,” a Kingfield woman wrote. 

According to the report, Skills Inc. “has paid an employee as little as $2.14 per hour, it quadrupled a former manager’s salary between tax years 2006 and 2013, ultimately paying him $569,844 in tax year 2013, according to the nonprofit’s tax documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. It was an increase of almost $260,000 over the previous year.”

The full story can be found at bangordailynews.com.

Skills Lumber Mill
In this Bangor Daily News photo, Barry Cook works to sort lumber at a St. Albans sawmill called Sebasticook Lumber on June 15. The photo accompanied a news story Wednesday about a St. Albans nonprofit alleged to be paying workers with disabilities as little as $2 a hour.