May 5, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has issued a final rule for publication in tomorrow’s Federal Register to formally withdraw the Trump-era independent contractor rule.

SWACCA has worked for months to oppose this rule, beginning last October when President Scott Casabona submitted comments in opposition to the rule when it was first proposed. This past March, SWACCA submitted comments in support of the proposed withdrawal of the Trump-era rule, which will be finalized once the final rule is published in the Federal Register.

In this final rule, WHD cited SWACCA’s comments three times. Specifically, WHD cited SWACCA’s comments: (1) asserting that if the independent contractor rule were adopted, subsequent court decisions interpreting the rule would “necessitate additional, ongoing familiarization costs”; (2) asserting that the lack of clarity regarding whether and to what extent courts would defer to the independent contractor rule’s guidance would result in uncertainty; and (3) noting that taxpayer costs would have increased following the implementation of the Trump-era rule. We are pleased that WHD took SWACCA’s comments into consideration in ultimately moving forward with a withdrawal of this rule.

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