Caregivers for the elderly could lose wage protections under Trump proposal [View all]
Source: NPR
January 29, 2026 5:00 AM ET
Caring for the elderly in America is costly – too costly for many people to afford. Now, the Trump administration is attempting to tackle that problem by rolling back wage protections for more than 3 million workers who care for seniors and the disabled in their homes.
The Labor Department has proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that extended coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act to home care workers. The 2013 rule granted them labor protections most other workers have had since 1938.
Those include the right to earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and overtime, paid at one-and-a-half times their regular rate when they work more than 40 hours a week. At the time, the Labor Department said the change would fulfill President Obama's promise to "ensure that direct care workers receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work."
The Trump administration says the rule has not produced the intended benefits and instead created problems, harming employers, workers and the families they serve. Labor advocates counter that taking away wage protections will drive even more workers out of an industry which already sees annual turnover of about 80%.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/01/29/nx-s1-5626767/home-care-seniors-trump-labor-overtime
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