The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) – the DOL agency responsible for enforcing the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) – has issued a new opinion letter that addresses independent contractor status under the FLSA. The letter represents DOL’s first policy pronouncement on the topic since Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta withdrew Obama-era guidance issued in 2017 that significantly narrowed who could be considered an independent contractor under the FLSA.
According to the letter, service providers working for a virtual marketplace company were not employees but independent contractors under the FLSA. In making its determination, the letter notes that DOL applied the agency’s longstanding “economic realities” test to the factual information submitted by the company regarding the service providers’ jobs. While the factors utilized in the analysis are familiar, the application of those factors clearly suggests that the current WHD has a less hostile view of independent contractor classification than the prior Administration.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.