DOL Diverges on Wage Enforcement, Deregulation at 6th Circ.

Labor and Employment attorney Timothy Taylor was cited at length in a Law360 article examining the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) diverging actions involving a 2013 rule on Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime exemptions. The rule eliminated a ban on a FLSA protection carveouts for live-in domestic workers and workers who provide companionship services for individuals unable to care for themselves. Last year, the DOL pursued an enforcement action against a home care agency for violating the rule and secured a lower court victory; the case now sits before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which upheld the rule in April 2026 but is now reviewing an en banc petition from the company. Simultaneously, the government moved to roll back the regulation, proposing a rescission and announcing it would halt enforcement. Mr. Taylor commented that the DOL typically stays or drops litigation in challenges to rules it plans to rescind, instead of enforcement actions in the instant case. He also told Law360 the differing approaches – continued enforcement and rollback – mean employers should not assume anything and maintain compliance with the rules currently on the books.

"It's not over 'til it's over," he said. "There's no guarantee that just because there's a policy shift going on, that past and ongoing enforcement actions are thereby automatically going to be wiped away."

READ: DOL Diverges on Wage Enforcement, Deregulation at 6th Circ. (Subscription required)