> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.workersrights.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Trump’s DOL plans to scrap overtime pay for live-in caregivers. - URL: https://www.workersrights.news/judge-home-care-live-in-aides-overtime-rule-labor-department-hardy/ - Published: 2026-11-01T15:36:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-01T15:36:29.000Z - Description: A recent court ruling affects only two Pennsylvania agencies, but Trump's DOL has a final rule on its calendar that would reach the whole industry. - Author: WorkersRights.News Team - Tags: Legal News A federal judge in western Pennsylvania ruled Oct. 29 that the U.S. Department of Labor overstepped its power when it required home care agencies to pay overtime to aides who live with their clients. The ruling frees two agencies from that obligation. The Labor Department, meanwhile, plans to scrap the protection for everyone. U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy of the Western District of Pennsylvania wrote that "the DOL exceeded its authority delegated to it by Congress" when it adopted the rule, according to his [99-page opinion](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-pawd-2%5F20-cv-01545/pdf/USCOURTS-pawd-2%5F20-cv-01545-2.pdf?ref=workersrights.news) in *Intra-National Home Care, LLC v. U.S. Department of Labor*, consolidated with *AgeWell Home Helpers, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Labor*. [Law360 reported](https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/wage-hour/articles/2544321?ref=workersrights.news) the decision Oct. 30. ### What the rule does The Fair Labor Standards Act exempts from overtime "any employee who is employed in domestic service in a household and who resides in such household," under [29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(21)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/213?ref=workersrights.news). A separate exemption covers workers who provide "companionship services" to people who can't care for themselves. For decades, home care agencies could claim those exemptions too. A 2013 Labor Department rule, in force since 2015, ended that. Under [29 C.F.R. § 552.109](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/552.109?ref=workersrights.news), "third party employers," meaning agencies rather than the families being served, may not use either exemption. Agencies have had to pay minimum wage and time-and-a-half to companions and live-in aides ever since. ### Who won and who lost The two agencies won half their case. Hardy declared the live-in part of the rule unlawful and "set aside as to Plaintiffs." Their live-in aides lose their federal right to overtime from those employers. The Labor Department won the other half. Hardy upheld the companionship part, but only because the Supreme Court's 2007 decision in *Long Island Care at Home v. Coke* binds him. He wrote that he "believes that this regulation is contrary to law and should be set aside," and said that precedent "precludes this outcome" for companionship workers. He also refused the agencies' request to wipe out the rule nationwide. A court's power is to set the rule aside for the plaintiffs, he wrote, "rather than vacate or nullify application of the regulation universally and set it aside for everyone, everywhere." Agencies elsewhere still owe overtime for now. ### Background Intra-National processes payroll for aides who care for elderly and disabled members of low-income families through a Medicaid waiver program, the opinion says. AgeWell employs direct care workers. The Labor Department sued AgeWell in January 2021 and Intra-National in October 2021 over unpaid wages. Both enforcement cases are on hold. The agencies told the court they had "restructured (meaning, lowered)" their workers' pay rates so they could afford overtime under Medicaid reimbursement limits, as the judge described it. The ruling breaks with the federal appeals court in Cincinnati. In April, the Sixth Circuit [upheld the same rule](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca6/25-3128/25-3128-2026-04-01.html?ref=workersrights.news) against another agency, calling it "a reasoned and reasonably explained exercise of the agency's expressly delegated authority." ### What comes next The bigger threat is coming from the Labor Department itself. Trump's department defended the rule in Hardy's court while working to scrap it. In July 2025 it [proposed](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/02/2025-12316/application-of-the-fair-labor-standards-act-to-domestic-service?ref=workersrights.news) rescinding the 2013 rule entirely, which would let agencies again claim both exemptions. Its own analysis puts the upper bound of agency-employed home care workers at about 3.7 million. The federal [regulatory agenda](https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202510&RIN=1235-AA51&ref=workersrights.news) lists a final rule for November 2026. No new court date is set. The government can appeal Hardy's ruling to the Third Circuit. It's another step in the department's retreat from wage enforcement, after it [backed off enforcement at union workplaces](https://www.workersrights.news/labor-department-backs-off-enforcement-union-workplaces/) and a judge found its [farmworker pay cut broke the law](https://www.workersrights.news/judge-trump-h2a-farmworker-wage-cut-unlawful-back-pay-deadline/). We condemn a plan to strip overtime from the people who bathe, feed and sit up nights with elderly and disabled Americans. If you work for a home care agency, keep your own record of hours, including overnight shifts. The Labor Department's own proposal notes that some home care workers are still covered by [state minimum wage and overtime laws](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/02/2025-12316/application-of-the-fair-labor-standards-act-to-domestic-service?ref=workersrights.news), whatever happens to the federal rule. ### Sources - U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, "[Opinion, Intra-National Home Care, LLC v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 20-1545](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-pawd-2%5F20-cv-01545/pdf/USCOURTS-pawd-2%5F20-cv-01545-2.pdf?ref=workersrights.news)," Oct. 29, 2026 - Law360, "[Home Care Cos. Win Partial Block Of DOL Overtime Rule](https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/wage-hour/articles/2544321?ref=workersrights.news)," Oct. 30, 2026 - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit via Justia, "[Department of Labor v. Americare Healthcare Services, No. 25-3128](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca6/25-3128/25-3128-2026-04-01.html?ref=workersrights.news)," April 1, 2026 - Federal Register, "[Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/02/2025-12316/application-of-the-fair-labor-standards-act-to-domestic-service?ref=workersrights.news)," July 2, 2025 - Reginfo.gov, "[RIN 1235-AA51: Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service](https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202510&RIN=1235-AA51&ref=workersrights.news)," Unified Agenda, accessed Nov. 1, 2026 - Cornell Legal Information Institute, "[29 U.S.C. § 213](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/213?ref=workersrights.news)" and "[29 C.F.R. § 552.109](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/552.109?ref=workersrights.news)"