During Women’s History Month, we celebrate the progress we’ve seen for women, including working women, throughout history. But we are also reminded that this progress remains under threat.
One such threat comes from Trump and Congressional Republicans’ efforts to once again undermine the basic wage and hour protections women have gained over the last 60 years.
Where We Are: Federal Wage and Hour Laws Have Progressed Over Decades to Help Working Women
For more than 60 years, federal law has evolved to better protect working women’s time and pay.
- 1960s and 1970s: Occupations dominated by women received minimum wage and overtime protections. Enacted in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) set minimum wage, overtime and child labor standards. But, as first enacted, the law excluded from its minimum wage and overtime protections many occupations where women were overrepresented. Amendments to the FLSA in 1966 extended minimum wage protections to workers in many industries where women worked, including nursing homes, laundries, hotels, restaurants, public schools and hospitals. Amendments to the FLSA in 1974 extended minimum wage and overtime protections to some domestic workers, who were overwhelmingly women of color.
- 1990s: Workers gained the right to take job-protected family and medical leave from work. The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted in 1993 to provide eligible employees with the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave from work for certain family or medical reasons. Congress enacted the law partly to promote equal employment opportunity for women, noting that “the primary responsibility for family caretaking often falls on women, and such responsibility affects the working lives of women more than it affects the working lives of men.”
- 2010s and 2020s: Nursing mothers secured the right to break time and a clean space to pump breastmilk at work. In 2010, the FLSA was amended to require employers to provide workers with unpaid reasonable break time to express milk for one year after a child’s birth and a private, non-bathroom space to pump breastmilk while at work. The law, however, excluded certain industries and occupations from its protections. In 2022, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act was enacted, extending nursing mother protections to workers previously excluded, including teachers and certain nurses.
What They Want to Do: The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Want Fewer Workers to Receive Protections as Employees
Protections under the FLSA and the FMLA only apply to workers who are considered “employees” under the law. Independent contractors, who are in business for themselves, are not covered under the laws and therefore aren’t afforded basic protections.
Congress used a broad employment standard to ensure that the FLSA’s protections extend to a wide range of workers. Congress pulled from the FLSA’s broad employment definition to provide FMLA protections to a broad range of workers.
But the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans are trying to make it so fewer workers are treated like employees and protected under these federal wage and hour laws.
- The Trump Administration Wants Misclassification: On February 27, 2026, the Trump Labor Department proposed a rule that would change how the Department interprets who is considered an employee under the law. In 2021, the first Trump administration issued a similar rule, but the Biden administration later replaced it.
Potential Effect: This proposed rule, if finalized, would not change the law. Congress didn’t give the Labor Department the power to change who is considered an employee under the FLSA or FMLA. But, because this rule changes how the Department interprets the law, the proposed rule would impact how the agency enforces protections or how employers might choose to comply with the law. This would make it more likely that employers improperly classify – or misclassify – their employees as independent contractors. - Congressional Republicans Want Reclassification: Last summer, House Republicans advanced H.R. 1319, a bill that would change federal wage laws to use a narrow standard to determine who is considered an employee.
Potential Effect: This would actually change the law. This wouldn’t be misclassification – it would be reclassification. That means that workers who were once employees would be converted to independent contractors without the ability to go to the courts or to the Labor Department when their rights are violated.
What It Would Mean for Women Workers: Rollbacks Would Leave Working Women Without Vital Pay and Leave Protections
The details of Trump’s proposed rule and Congressional Republicans’ bill might be in the weeds, but their potential impact is clear: workers will be worse off. For example, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that the 2021 Trump rule would cost workers $3.7 billion a year. Rollbacks would have particular impact on women, given that they are overrepresented in jobs where employers are more likely to misclassify their employees.
- Narrowing who is protected by the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime laws would hurt women working in low-wage jobs. Our nation’s history of racism and sexism has left women overrepresented in low-wage occupations – the same occupations and industries where there’s a high risk of misclassification and wage theft and where workers most need wage protections to recover lost pay. Leaving fewer women protected by minimum wage and overtime because of misclassification or reclassification pushes us in the wrong direction.
- Narrowing who is protected by the FMLA’s right to job-protected leave would leave more working women struggling to juggle employment and care responsibilities. Women shoulder a disproportionate share of family caregiving. Already, 44 percent of workers aren’t eligible for FMLA leave because they don’t meet the law’s tenure or hours requirements or because they work for a small employer. And millions of workers aren’t able to afford unpaid leave from work. Leaving even more workers without FMLA protections due to misclassification or reclassification would make it that much harder for working women to keep their jobs and take leave.
- Narrowing who has nursing protections will undermine the supports women need to juggle their jobs and breastfeeding. For women who choose to breastfeed, losing recently gained and strengthened break and space protections due to misclassification or reclassification would negatively impact their health and the health of their infants.
Rather than rolling back protections, we should be working to strengthen our federal wage and hour laws, including by raising the federal minimum wage and securing comprehensive paid leave for all workers.
