{"id":8526,"date":"2025-05-02T11:46:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T11:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/us\/?post_type=resources&p=8526"},"modified":"2026-06-24T08:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:18:10","slug":"dol-wont-enforce-biden-era-independent-contractor-rule","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/us\/resources\/hr-compliance\/employment-law-updates\/dol-wont-enforce-biden-era-independent-contractor-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"DOL Won’t Enforce Biden-Era Independent Contractor Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written by: <\/p>\n\n\n

Michael Cardman<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Share<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The US Department of Labor (DOL) will no longer enforce regulations issued by the Biden administration last year<\/a> that made it more difficult to classify workers as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, a new enforcement policy<\/a> directs DOL personnel to apply a more employer-friendly 2008 fact sheet<\/a> and 2019 opinion letter<\/a> when investigating misclassification cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This approach provides greater clarity for businesses and workers navigating modern work arrangements while legal and regulatory questions are resolved,” the DOL said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business groups, freelancer workers and others have filed multiple lawsuits seeking to overturn the 2024 independent contractor rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DOL has asked<\/a> the courts to temporarily pause these cases to allow the agency’s new leadership time to reconsider and potentially rescind the Biden-era rule. At least one federal appellate court has granted<\/a> the DOL’s request to put its case on hold, but cautioned that the pause “is not indefinite in duration and is subject to reconsideration at any time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the DOL repeals the 2024 rule, it could restore a more employer-friendly independent contractor rule<\/a> that the Trump administration promulgated in 2020, or it could simply leave a regulatory hole, in which case a body of case law known as the economic realities test<\/a>  would likely be used to determine worker classification under the FLSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employers may wish to revisit these tests to see if any workers currently classified as employees might be reclassified as independent contractors under a more relaxed FLSA standard; of course, employers simultaneously should consider any relevant independent contractor tests under common law<\/a>, the federal tax code<\/a>, other federal laws<\/a> and miscellaneous state laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Michael<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Written by: <\/p>\n\n\n

Michael Cardman<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A new enforcement policy directs US Department of Labor investigators to apply criteria that make it easier to classify workers as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":8527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"resource-author","categories":[55],"tags":[],"topic":[87,63,85],"class_list":["post-8526","resources","type-resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr-news","topic-employee-classification","topic-employment-law-updates","topic-wage-hour"],"_lnrs_read_more":"","yoast_head":"\nDOL Won't Enforce Biden-Era Independent Contractor Rule | Brightmine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new enforcement policy directs US Department of Labor investigators to apply criteria that make it easier to classify workers as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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