Labor Department to delay enforcing minimum-wage and OT protections for home-care workers

The Obama administration is delaying its enforcement of President Barack Obama's initiative to extend minimum-wage and overtime protections to the nation's nearly two million home-care workers.

The new rules are scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2015. The Labor Department says it is keeping the effective date but won't enforce them against any employer for the first six months. And, from June-December 2015, it will consider enforcing the rule on a case-by-case basis.

Advocates for low wage workers have long pressed for this coverage, especially for workers who care for elderly and disabled Americans.

A group representing these workers criticized the decision, saying that these workers, mostly low-income women, will have to wait up to a year to receive basic labor protections.