Labor Department to cut workplace regulations
The U.S. Department of Labor plans to repeal or revise around 60 workplace regulations it considers outdated. These proposed rollbacks woudl impact various areas, including mining working conditions, minimum wage rules for home healthcare workers, and safety standards related to harmful material exposure.One notable proposal would eliminate the federal minimum wage and overtime pay protections for approximately 3.7 million home healthcare workers, allowing their wages to fall below the current $7.25 per hour minimum depending on state laws. Additionally, protections granted last year to immigrant farm workers on H-2A visas, such as safeguards against retaliation for reporting abuses, are at risk of being removed. The department also aims to limit the Occupational Safety and Health Management’s use of the general duty clause, which currently enables penalties for unsafe workplace conditions where specific standards do not exist, particularly exempting certain professional, athletic, or entertainment activities. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer defended the actions as necessary to reduce regulatory burdens and promote growth, while critics warn these changes could increase risks to worker safety.The rollback process will involve a formal public commenting period before any rule changes can be finalized.
Labor Department to cut workplace regulations and home healthcare minimum wage requirements
The Department of Labor is looking to repeal or rewrite 60 workplace requirements it calls “obsolete.”
If approved, these wide-ranging rollbacks would affect working conditions in mines, minimum wage for home healthcare workers, and the standards on exposures to harmful materials.
“The Department of Labor is proud to lead the way by eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle growth and limit opportunity,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement, adding that it was the “most ambitious proposal to slash red tape of any department across the federal government.”
Critics said cutting the rules would put workers at greater risk of harm.
The changes will have to follow the rule-making process in federal agencies, which means these rules cannot be changed immediately. Adding, amending, or ending a rule typically has three stages: finding the authority to make, change, or delete a rule, giving notice of that rule to the public, and agency consideration after public comments. People can voice concerns during the public comment period, or the second stage.
Some of the rollbacks the Trump administration is considering include eliminating the minimum wage for home healthcare workers. The Labor Department is proposing that about 3.7 million workers in home care be paid below the federal minimum wage, $7.25, and be made ineligible for overtime pay depending on state law.
Another proposed change would eliminate protections for immigrant farm workers with H-2A visas. Last year, H-2A visa holders were given more legal protections, including shielding them from retaliation for actions like filing a complaint, testifying, or participating in an investigation, hearing, or proceeding.
“There’s a long history of retaliation against workers who speak up against abuses in farm work. And with H-2A, it’s even worse because the employer can just not renew your visa,” Lori Johnson, senior attorney at Farmworker Justice, told the Associated Press.
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The administration is also looking to limit the general duty clause, which allows the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to punish employers for unsafe working conditions when no specific standard is in place to cover a situation.
The rule change would end the agency’s ability to apply the clause to penalize employers for “inherently risky professional activities that are intrinsic to professional, athletic, or entertainment occupations.”
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