In sweeping ruling, judge overturns home health care regulations on overtime pay, minimum wage

A federal judge has overturned Labor Department regulations requiring overtime and minimum wage protection for 2 million home health care workers.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had scrapped part of the rules in December, and Wednesday he completed the process.

In his decision, Leon says that the Labor Department's concerns about wages for home care providers are understandable, but that Congress is the appropriate forum in which to debate a complex issue affecting so many families.

President Barack Obama announced the rules in 2011, avoiding a trip through a hostile Congress that would have been required had the administration chosen the legislative path. Obama presented the rules with fanfare as part of a campaign to boost the economy through executive branch action.