After launching a campaign last month to try to overturn the Labor Department’s independent contractor rule, employer groups led by the Coalition for Workforce Innovation took the matter to court last week.
The coalition, called Save Independent Work, includes the California Business and Industrial Alliance, Freelancers Against AB5 and the Commonwealth Foundation.
The independent contractor rule — finalized in January and effective March 11 — changes how senior living companies and other employers determine who is an employee and who is an independent contractor. It affects employers’ responsibilities to individuals related to minimum wage, overtime pay, the withholding of income for taxes and federal programs, and other matters.
The new rule rescinds one issued in January 2021 during the final days of the Trump administration.
The coalition’s motion “alleged that DOL’s latest final rule ‘injects new inconsistencies and incoherence’ to the analysis of independent contractor status,” HR Dive reported. Members asked the court to declare that the 2021 rule has been in effect since March 8, 2021, and should block the Labor Department from enforcing the 2024 rule.
