The American Labor Department aims to re -write or cancel the rules of the more than 60 “obsolete” workplace, which ranges from minimum wage requirements to home health care workers and disabled people, ranging from harmful substances.
If approved, the comprehensive changes unveiled this month will also affect the status of working in construction sites and mines, and limit the government’s ability to punish the employers if workers are injured or killed, which are engaged in inherent activities such as film stunts or animal training.
The Labor Department says that the goal is to reduce the expensive, cumbersome rules imposed under the previous administration, and to meet President Trump’s commitment to fulfill American prosperity to meet the commitment.
The Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-Dimerr said in a statement, “The labor department is proud to lead the way unnecessary rules, which prevent development and boundary opportunity.”
Critics say that the proposals will put the workers at greater risk of damage, an inconsistent impact with women and members of minority groups.
“People are already at a great risk of dying on the job,” said Rebecca Rindel, Professional Safety and Health Director of AFL-CIO Union. “This is something that is only going to make the problem worse.”
There are several stages in proposed changes, before they can be effective, including a public comment period for each.
Some rollbacks under consideration
Home Health Care workers help elderly or medical delicate people, preparing food, helping drugs, assisting toilets, helping with customers for doctors appointments and doing other tasks. Under one of the proposals of the Labor Department, the estimated 3.7 million workers employed by home care agencies can be paid below the federal minimum wage – currently $ 7.25 per hour – and overtime salary was disqualified for salary, if they have not been covered by this state laws.
The proposed Rules will reverse the changes made under former President Barack Obama in 2013 and will return to a regulatory structure from 1975. The Labor Department says that by reducing labor and compliance costs, its amendment can expand home care market and help keep weak individuals in their homes for a long time.
Judy Conti, director of government affairs in the National Employment Act Project, said that his organization has planned to work hard to defeat the proposal. Home Health Workers are subject to injuries from raising customers, and “before those (2013) rules, it was very common for home care workers to work for 50, 60 and perhaps to work without paying more hours a week,” said the Conti.
Others support this proposal, including a conservative non -profit organization located in the independent women’s platform, Virginia. Women often take out the brunt of family care responsibilities, so making home care more cheap will help women balance work and personal responsibilities, said the group president Carrie Lucas.
Lucas said, “We are pleased to see the Trump administration moving forward on moving forward, which we saw as a counter -protest of the relationships that people were making care of care that they need to care.”
Samantha Sanders, director of government affairs and advocacy at the Non -Group Economic Policy Institute, said that cancellation would not be a victory for women.
Sanders said, “We do not really think that they need safety that require safety that will be very disastrous for a task force that really do the necessary work and dominate women very much, and especially over women of color,” Sanders said.
Migrant farmwork
Last year, the Labor Department finalized the rules that provide protection to the migrant farmwork that organized H -2A visas. The current administration says that most of those rules put unnecessary and expensive requirements on employers.
Under the new proposal, the Labor Department will cancel a requirement for transport provided by most employers to keep a seat belt for those agricultural laborers.
The department is also proposing to reversed a 2024 rule, which protects migrant farm workers from vengeance for filing a complaint and participating in investigation or moving or moving forward.
Lori Johnson, a senior advocate of Farmwork Justice, said, “There is a long history of vengeance against workers who speak against abuses in farm work. And with H -2A it is even worse because the employer cannot just renew your visa.”
Michael Marsh, president and CEO of the National Council of Agriculture Employees and CEO Marsh has killed farmers with regulations of thousands of pages related to migrant farmwork in recent years.
“Can you imagine a farmer and his spouse that 3,000 new pages of regulation in 18 months are trying to navigate and then can be responsible for each of them?” He asked.
Construction worker
Professional Safety and Health Administration, part of the labor department, for employers want to cancel a requirement to provide adequate light at construction sites, stating that regulation does not reduce a significant risk.
OSHA said that if employers fail to fix the shortcomings of lighting in construction works, the agency may issue quotes under its “general duty clause”. Clauses require employers to provide a place of employment free from recognized hazards that cause death or severe physical damage.
Worker advocates feel that getting rid of the need for a specific construction site is a bad idea. “Many are deadly where workers fall through a hole in the floor, where there is not enough lighting,” Rindel said. “This is a very clear thing that should be addressed to employers, but unfortunately it is one of the things where we need a standard, and it violates all the time.”
Mine and more
Many proposals can affect safety processes for mines. For example, employers have to submit plans for ventilation and stop the collapse of roof in coal mines for review by the Mines Department of Labor Department, Safety and Health Administration. Currently, MSHA district managers may require mine operators to take additional steps to improve those schemes.
The Labor Department wants to abolish that authority, saying that the current rules give the district manager the ability to draf laws and make laws without comments or action.
Similarly, the department is proposing to filter district managers of their capacity to district managers, which require changes in the mine health and safety training programs.
Normal duty clause allows osha to punish employers for unprotected working conditions when there is no specific standard to cover a situation.
An OSHA proposal will “exclude the clause to ban, restrict or punish employers for naturally risky professional activities that are internal for professional, athletic or entertainment businesses.”
An preliminary analysis identified athletes, actors, dancers, musicians, other entertainers and journalists who would apply to the boundary of workers of which.
“It is not only admirable to claim that the Congress intends to authorize the Labor Department to eliminate familiar sports and entertainment practices while passing the Professional Safety and Health Act, such as pant returns in NFL, speed in NASCAR or whale show in Civild,” reads “reads.
Debbie Berkovitz, who served as the Osha Chief of Staff during the OSHA Chief of Staff during the Obama administration, said it would be a mistake to limit the agency’s enforcement authority.
“Once you start taking that danger away, you can return where they will throw security into the air, as they have other production pressure,” Berkovitz said.
