DOL Drafts Independent Contractor Rules

Abstract

Unions would love to be able to organize the growing body of gig‐economy workers. The Obama administration was sympathetic and supported classifying Uber and Lyft drivers and others with similar arrangements as employees. This would bring them under the protection of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act, among others. Now in the Trump administration, according to a recent opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor, some gig‐economy workers are not covered by the federal FLSA. The DOL opinion as such does not pertain to the National Labor Relations Board, but the agencies would likely adopt the same or very similar rules and the NLRB also aims to allow more workers to be classified as independent contractors.