London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Biden blocks Trump-era gig-worker rule

Biden blocks Trump-era gig-worker rule

Decision removes an extra layer of assurance gig companies wanted to prevent workers from being classified as employees

The Biden administration is blocking a Trump-era regulation that would have made it easier to classify gig workers and others as independent contractors, a policy that had been sought by companies such as food-delivery and ride-sharing services.

The Labor Department said Wednesday it is nullifying a rule it completed in early January that sought to make it more difficult for a gig worker to be counted as an employee under federal law. Having status as an employee, rather than a contractor, means those workers are covered by federal minimum-wage and overtime laws.

Employees are also better positioned than contractors to organize into labor unions. The Biden administration has made creating union jobs a priority.

The Labor Department is acting this week to block the rule before it was implemented Friday, following a common practice of presidents of different parties undoing the prior president’s pending rules early in a new administration.

Nullifying the Trump rule maintains the decades long status quo, which has largely allowed app-based services to not count drivers and other providers as employees. But Wednesday’s action removes an extra layer of assurance gig-economy companies had sought as a way, they said, to modernize labor laws.

The Labor Department isn’t planning to offer new regulations for independent contractors in the near future, said Jessica Looman, principal deputy administrator for the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

"We are going back to the decade’s old analysis and we really feel that this is the space where we can best protect workers," she said on a call with reporters. "When it comes to digital workers...we want to make sure that we continue to look at their needs, how they are interacting with their individual employers and whether or not they have the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act."

By blocking the Trump rule, the Labor Department will continue to use its previous regulation to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was enacted in 1938. While Wednesday’s action doesn’t immediately change how gig workers are classified, it leaves ambiguity about how a Depression-era law will be applied to a smartphone economy. Ms. Looman said the department will look for opportunities to enforce existing laws, especially as they apply to lower-wage workers.


She said Wednesday’s announcement should not dramatically change how the department regulates app-based services but said the department is engaging with those companies and others about labor-law enforcement.

"The fact that we are moving and are embracing a pro-worker position doesn’t mean that we’re anti-employer," Ms. Looman said.

Earlier this year, Uber Technologies Inc. applauded the Trump rule, saying it recognized the flexibility gig workers sought and called the previous regulation—which now is remaining in place—outdated. Trump administration officials said their rule made it easier for Americans to be self-employed and set their own hours.

The Trump rule, announced on Jan. 6, was to be implemented on March 8, but the Labor Department delayed it from going into effect until Friday, as part of President Biden’s broader freeze on pending regulations.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, in an April interview with The Wall Street Journal, said that legitimate independent contractors are an important part of our economy, but the Trump-era rule made it too easy to deny workers employee status.

"We’ve seen employers are increasingly misclassifying their workers as independent contractors in order to reduce labor costs and take a lot of protections away from workers, including minimum wage and overtime," Mr. Walsh said.

The back-and-forth contractor regulations are in part a response to California rules applied to gig companies.

In November, voters in California exempted Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and others from a state law that would have forced them to reclassify their drivers as employees, eligible for broad employment benefits. While the exemption allowed the companies to preserve their business models in the most populous U.S. state, they did concede some new benefits such as health insurance for drivers who worked 15 hours or more a week, occupational-accident insurance coverage and 30 cents for every mile driven.

At the time, the companies said they would lobby to make this model—flexibility for drivers with limited benefits—the national standard.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×