'Streamlined Regulations'
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a rule to clarify employee, independent contractor status under federal wage and hour laws.
Editor’s Note: The U.S. Department of Labor is currently facing five lawsuits over the Biden-Harris administration’s independent-contractor rule. I am a plaintiff in one of those cases.
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule to determine employee versus independent-contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act and related federal laws.
According to the U.S. Labor Department’s press release, the proposed rule would rescind the department’s 2024 final rule addressing the classification of independent contractors and replace it with an analysis for employee classification similar to the one adopted by the department in 2021. Consistent with Supreme Court and federal circuit court precedent, the proposed rule would make it easier to properly differentiate between employees with the protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act and those workers who work as independent contractors.
“The tens of millions of Americans who work as independent contractors are helping drive the Golden Age of the American economy,” Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer stated in the press release. “The department’s proposed rule seeks to protect these workers’ entrepreneurial spirit and simplify compliance for American job creators navigating a modern workplace, all while maintaining robust protections for employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
Public comments are invited on the proposed rule, which has a 60-day comment period that closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 28, 2026.
Hallelujah! I was for this when it was enacted before and I'm for it now.
Pages 137-140 are the key parts. They spell out the standard that will be used to determine whether we can be hired as independent contractors: 2 main rules and 3 secondary ones. There are examples of how to apply the standard on pages 140-145.
I hope the rule will be applied to low income workers like farm workers, home health aides, retail clerks, etc., as I hope it will. Lazy employers like to call these folks independent contractors when they're usually not, in point of fact. But I think a reasonable reading of the rule will protect workers like these from being misclassified.
Kim,
Are you happy with this rule? Also don't we still need to fight for the National Law to protect freelancers? Thanks for all of your hard work.