Welcome to FP Gig Economy Snapshot, where we take a quick snapshot look at the most significant workplace law developments with an emphasis on how they impact gig economy businesses. This edition focuses on the Department of Labor’s proposal to re-impose a labor-friendly independent contractor rule that will make it harder for businesses to classify workers as contractors instead of employees. But is it possible that the proposal isn’t as bad as it seems and that the gig economy actually dodged a bullet? Read on for our analysis.

What Happened?

The Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule on Tuesday that will eventually make it harder for businesses of all types to classify workers as independent contractors under federal wage and hour law. But it will have an oversized impact on the gig economy given that the predominant business model relies on a contractor workforce. You can read our full overview of the proposal here.

The news itself wasn’t surprising; we’d been expecting the Biden DOL to reverse course and scrap the Trump-era independent contractor test for some time now. It won’t take effect right away. Instead, after a typical notice-and-comment period that runs through late November, you can expect it to take effect in early 2023.

What Did Analysts Say?

The initial analysis was near-universally negative for businesses, and even hinted at a doom-and-gloom forecast for the stability of the gig economy model.

• The New York Times said “the proposal is a...

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