This article reviews some of the hot topics in employment law that employers should watch out for in 2023. Legislative and regulatory developments affecting the workplace across the United States are expected to continue, and employers should remain informed and proactive in updating policies and practices as these developments occur.

Classification of workers

The US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a rule regarding independent contractor status on 11 October 2022. After extending the public comment period until 13 December 2022, the DOL announced at the beginning of 2023 that the final rule is scheduled for publication in May 2023. The proposed rule would:

• rescind the 2021 Independent Contractor Rule issued by the DOL, which emphasised the factors of control and opportunity for profit to determine classification; and
• use a six-factor test and consider other factors that may be relevant.

Those six factors are:

• opportunity for profit or loss depending on managerial skill;
• investments by the worker and the employer;
• degree of permanence of the work relationship;
• nature and degree of control;
• extent to which the work performed is an integral part of the employer's business; and
• skill and initiative.

Each of these factors is slanted towards classifying the worker as an employee.

The practical result of the new DOL rule is that more workers will be classified as employees and some who have already been classified as independent contractors may have to be reclassified as...

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