The Labor Department has proposed a rule that will make it simpler for supply drivers, janitors, building workers and different unbiased contractors to be thought-about workers, granting them entry to advantages and federal labor protections.
The proposal would overturn a Trump-era transfer and restore Obama-era requirements for figuring out whether or not workers qualify as workers or unbiased contractors.
“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,” Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh mentioned in a statement. “Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages.”
The proposal should face a public remark interval and would take months to go into impact if permitted. Companies which can be dominant within the gig financial system resembling Lyft and Uber, whose enterprise fashions revolve round unbiased contractors, oppose the change, saying it will be pricey and create pointless problems.
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