In response to the US Department of Labor’s proposed regulation on independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act, more than 1,500 individuals and organizations filed comments prior to the Oct. 26 deadline, according to a JD Supra blog post [1].
Weighing in in support of the proposed rule were the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers; those opposed include the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters Union, and the National Employment Law Project.
The rule was announced in September [2] and the comment period was only 30 days in duration rather than the usual 60. Regardless of the results of the upcoming election, it appears that the Labor Department will seek to issue a final rule before the end of this calendar year.
JD Supra submitted comments of its own, which it included in the blog post [1], offering suggested clarifications and offered examples of some of the factors to be considered in determining if a worker or group of workers should be classified as independent contractors or rather employees under the FLSA.