Despite workers across the country—especially those who have been historically excluded from labor law protections—winning dramatic expansions of their rights, the Department of Labor under the Trump Administration is looking to further stack the deck against workers and enable employers to classify more of their workforce as independent contractors with no rights to minimum wage, overtime, or the protections of our child labor laws with their proposed rule. This rule could also impact other rights that rely on the FLSA’s definitions of employment, including rights to emergency paid sick days and paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

For these reasons, the Center for Law and Social Policy submitted comments to the Department of Labor’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding the standard for determining who is a covered employee and who is an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act.