White House Extends Minimum Wage to Nearly 2 Million Health Care Workers The Department of Labor announced Tuesday that it will extend minimum wage and overtime protections to nearly 2 million home health care workers. The direct care workers, who deal with the elderly and disabled, were previously treated under federal law the same as baby sitters. But the workforce involved in home health care has rapidly grown along with the aging population, and the increasingly professional workforce has called for labor laws to reflect the trend. About 90 percent of home health care workers are women, and nearly half are minorities, according to the Department of Labor.