PHOENIX -- Organizations that train and employ the developmentally and physically disabled won't have to lay them off -- at least not next week.

Larry Etchechury, director of the state Industrial Commission, said Tuesday his agency will not bring charges against any of these organizations if they do not start paying the new $6.75-an-hour minimum wage on Jan. 1.

Etchechury said his organization, charged with enforcing the new voter-approved law, is still researching its provisions. In particular, he said the commission is trying to decide whether Proposition 202 includes an exemption for those who work in sheltered work environments.

He said it will be late January at the earliest before the full commission considers the issue and issues a formal "advisory opinion'' for employers to follow.

But Etchechury said that opinion will be prospective only. He said even if the commission concludes there is no exception for the disabled, it will not sanction companies for what they have done in the interim.

Randy Gray, chief executive officer of the Marc Center in Mesa, said that's great news. He said the alternative was to lay off the workers at the end of this week rather than risk stiff penalties.

Etchechury's decision will affect up to 5,000 people who are currently exempt from federal laws which require employers to pay at least $5.15 an hour. That is based on a 1961 federal law which permits those in "sheltered work centers'' to be paid a "commensurate wage,'' linked to their ability.

Gray, the immediate past president of the Arizona Association of Provider Agencies for the Disabled, said that means someone who is capable of working at only 5 percent of what would be considered normal capacity can be paid 5 percent of the prevailing wage for that job, even if it falls below the federal minimum.

But the new Arizona law approved in Proposition 202 contains no such exemption. And generally speaking a more restrictive state or local law always takes precedence over federal wage and hour statutes.

That lack of exemption caused alarm among many organizations which train and employ the disabled.

"We just want everybody just basically to calm down,'' he said.

"We're going to be working through this process in January,'' Etchechury continued. "Nobody ought to change anything.''

Etchechury acknowledged that the commission's position on the issue -- whether the interim decision not to enforce the law or an eventual ruling that it does not apply to the disabled -- does not preclude someone from filing suit against an employer. But he said it should provide some legal protection.

"Typically, the courts will give deference to the regulating agency in terms of their interpretations of the law,'' he said.

The issue has caused a rift within the disabled community.

Carrie Hobbs Guiden, executive director of the Arc of Arizona, said her organization believes there should be no exception. She said applying the law to all guarantees the disabled will have the same rights as everyone else.

Gray said the goal is to have everyone earning the same as those without disabilities. And Gray, who has a 15-year-old son who is autistic, said he would love for the youth to be able to make minimum wage when he turns 18.

"It's not going to happen,'' he said. And Gray said it is preferable for others who might have an IQ of only 30 to bring home a few dollars a week -- and have a skill -- than to find they can get no jobs at all.

Guiden, however, said she questions the whole concept of who gets to determine what is "full productivity,'' the touchstone for computing the commensurate wage.

"We've all seen many workers who do next to nothing at work and manage to get paid the same amount as someone else who is more productive,'' she said in a letter to members of her organization. "We need to stop using this argument as an excuse to pay people with disabilities less than the rest of the population.''