Education
Trump's administration finalizes a law that may classify gig employees as contractors
The US Department of Labor has finalized a decision that will make it possible for "big economy" businesses to designate their jobs as independent contractors rather than employers who can demand legal benefits. The Trump administration issued its final version of the law today, and it is set to take effect on 8 March, but this could change when President-elect Joe Biden assumed office in January.
Last year, the DOL introduced a new system for the classification of workers and contractors. It relies on two core factors for discriminating between the two: the nature and degree of control of work and the opportunity for profit or loss dependent on initiative and expenditure.
It also mentions additional guideposts that include the amount of skill required for the task, the degree of permanence for the working arrangement, and whether the work is part of the integrated unit of production.
As the New York Times reported last year, the provision interprets current rules rather than creating new ones, which only applies to federal legislation applied by the DOL. States will also describe themselves—like California's Prop 22, which specifies that Lyft and Uber drivers are not workers. However, it may also have a broad impact on how businesses define their employees.
The National Workplace Law Initiative, a non-profit civil rights organization, called it a "narrowing" of expectations rather than a substantive explanation.
