DOL Issues New Independent Contractor Rule

The new proposal, according to Labor, “would provide guidance on classifying workers and seeks to combat employee misclassification.”

Labor is taking comments on the plan from Thursday until Nov. 28.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said Tuesday in a statement that “while independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation’s most vulnerable workers.”

Misclassification, Walsh said, “deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages.”

Brown says FSI looks forward “to constructively engaging with DOL staff to ensure advisors’ independent contractor status is protected.”

However, Brown said, “the limited time between the DOL’s townhalls, when it filed the rule with the Office of Management and Budget, and today’s release raises concerns about how much consideration, if any, the Department gave to the feedback it received from American workers and employers.”

The department said it “believes the new rule would preserve essential worker rights and provide consistency for regulated entities.”