The Burr Broadcast: New Independent Contractor Rule
In recent months, the Department of Labor (DOL) has seen an overhaul of its agency leadership. First, President Trump appointed Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling, and more recently,...more
In February 2024, we reported the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Final Rule revising the DOL’s guidance on how to analyze who is an employee or independent contractor for purposes of minimum wage and overtime pay...more
On May 1, 2025, the United States Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division announced it would not enforce or apply the Biden-era 2024 Final Rule regarding independent contractor classification (“2024 Rule”)....more
On May 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (Division) issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) No. 2025-1 (“FAB 2025-1”), announcing that it is currently working to reformulate the test as to...more
What You Need to Know - The U.S. Department of Labor has announced it will no longer enforce the 2024 independent contractor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), reverting to the more employer-friendly 2008...more
On May 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“DOL”) issued a field assistance bulletin on “how to determine employee or independent contractor status,” effectively pausing the implementation of its...more
Classifying a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee can be one of the more complicated—and risky—decisions an employer can make, as misclassification can lead to serious legal and financial consequences....more
Businesses that rely on freelancers or the “gig economy” have cause for optimism now that the Department of Labor just announced it will no longer enforce a Biden-era final rule that made it harder to classify workers as...more
On February 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) published a new staff statement intended to clarify the application of federal securities laws to meme coins....more
On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in Walkingstick Dixon v. Oklahoma Regional University System Board of Regents that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) permits actions against...more
Approximately one year ago, we discussed the impact of the final rule from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regarding whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act...more
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected the NCAA’s argument that, because student-athletes voluntarily participate in college athletics, they cannot simultaneously be students and...more
The issue of whether student athletes are “employees” and subject to FLSA coverage has been hotly contested for a number of years. The colleges assert the players are amateurs and thus not subject to coverage. The Third...more
In its Alston decision in 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ended the legal assumption that NCAA athletes were pure amateurs, exempt from a range of legal protections extended to workers. Since that decision, courts have faced a...more
U.S. college athletes may soon be considered employees entitled to minimum wage under federal law. In a recent decision, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that college athletes could theoretically be considered...more
Although companies may be tempted to classify workers as contractors to circumvent wage and hour rules, this is the classic example of penny-wise and pound foolish. Misclassification of employees as contractors can lead to...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division issued final regulations, effective March 11, 2024, which are intended to serve as a practical guide to employers on how the DOL determines whether a worker is an employee...more
On January 10, 2024, the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a final rule (the “Final Rule”), which became effective on March 11, 2024, modifying the DOL’s guidance on how to...more
On March 11, 2024, after many months of anticipation, the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) final rule on independent contractor status went into effect. Meanwhile, on March 8, 2024, a revised joint employer rule announced by the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division updated its regulation concerning Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standard Act, with changes effective March 11, 2024. The...more
This post is a summary of a more detailed Client Alert prepared by Gray Reed’s labor and employment practice group. Recall our recent post on the Department of Labor’s new “Economic Realities Test” for classifying...more
In recent years, employment status has been an evolving topic globally as various jurisdictions grapple with how to properly categorise increasingly flexible forms of working. A regulatory change in the United States by the...more
As discussed in our QuickStudy of January 9, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued its long-awaited final rule setting forth its version of the test for independent contractor status under the federal Fair Labor Standards...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule on how employers should properly determine whether a worker is to be classified as an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor...more
Introduction - After receiving over 55,000 comments regarding the proposed rule introduced in 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finalized a new independent contractor test under the Fair Labor Standards Act...more