Monday morning musings for workplace watchers

Trump’s DOL to Run Back Original IC Rule | Pushback on the EEOC

Parker Purifoy: The Labor Department’s proposed rule to guide employers on which workers should be classified as independent contractors or employees is likely going to look very familiar for those who’ve been watching the issue closely.

The rule is currently undergoing White House review, and attorneys say it should mirror the first Trump administration’s rule which gave businesses a clearer path to classify workers as independent contractors.

The legal back-and-forth has been closely watched by nearly every industry, but especially among construction, trucking, and gig economy companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., which largely rely on business models that pay people as contractors instead of hiring them as employees.

Biden’s version of the classification rule—which made it harder to treat workers as contractors—was heavily litigated. The Trump DOL last year directed its staff not to enforce the regulation.

There are currently five pending lawsuits against the DOL’s 2024 rule, but all have been paused while the department sorts out its next iteration of the regulation. Workers who are considered employees are owed minimum wage, overtime pay, and other protections under the law, while independent contractors are not.

“ABC is pleased to see that the DOL appears to be moving forward in its effort to revisit the independent contractor rule as it...

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