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.”