Labor Department Targets Major Rollback of Worker Protections Across Industries

The U.S. Department of Labor has unveiled a sweeping proposal to repeal or revise more than 60 existing workplace regulations deemed outdated or burdensome. The changes span multiple industries and worker categories, including home health aides, construction crews, miners, and migrant laborers, and reflect a broader push by the Trump administration to reduce federal oversight in the name of economic growth and employer flexibility.

According to AP News, among the most significant proposals is a plan to roll back wage protections for home health care workers, which could allow agencies to pay approximately 3.7 million workers below the federal minimum wage and exempt them from overtime. The department argues that the move could lower labor costs and expand access to affordable care, while critics warn it would disproportionately harm women and people of color who dominate this workforce.

“Before those [Obama-era] regulations, it was very common for home care workers to work 50, 60 and maybe even more hours a week, without getting any overtime pay,” said Judy Conti of the National Employment Law Project.

The proposals also take aim at worker safety protections. One rollback would remove a requirement for adequate lighting at construction sites, despite concerns from labor advocates about injury risks. Additional changes would curtail the authority of Mine Safety and Health Administration officials to demand improvements in ventilation and safety training. Rebecca Reindel of the AFL-CIO warned that the package of changes could worsen already dangerous conditions.

“People are at very great risk of dying on the job already… This is something that is only going to make the problem worse,” she explained.

Further deregulation would affect protections for migrant farmworkers with H-2A visas. The Labor Department wants to reverse rules mandating seat belts in employer-provided transportation and protections against retaliation for filing complaints or cooperating in investigations, which would silence workers who are already vulnerable to exploitation due to their visa status.

In a move that could have implications across the entertainment, sports, and media industries, the department also seeks to limit OSHA’s ability to penalize employers for injuries sustained during inherently risky professional activities. The rule, if approved, would prevent enforcement against unsafe conditions in jobs such as movie stunts or live animal shows. 

The proposals are now open for public comment and must go through multiple steps before implementation, but they signal a major shift in the federal government’s approach to workplace oversight.