Some of the country’s largest trade groups for transportation and logistics are throwing their weight behind a challenge to a White House policy that will soon classify many workers as full employees instead of independent contractors under U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) standards.
The new policy was announced in January and is set to take effect on March 11, when it will apply new measures to determine whether a worker has employee status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal statute that governs minimum wage and overtime pay.
As that date nears, some members of Congress have introduced a “joint resolution of disapproval” under the body’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) that that seeks to repeal the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final rule, “Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
Yesterday, the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) expressed its strong support for the resolution, saying that the potential rule threatens the livelihood of millions of independent contractors, including the vast majority of intermodal truck drivers, who could be involuntarily reclassified as employees. “Without Congressional action, the DOL’s new regulations will negatively impact the nation’s supply chain by deterring qualified drivers from the industry and worsening existing driver shortages, which will ultimately slow the movement of goods and increase costs for consumers,” IANA President and CEO Joni Casey said in a release.
Additional support for the resolution came from the American Trucking Associations (ATA), which praised the resolution’s sponsors, Representative Kevin Kiley (R-California) and Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana). “More than 350,000 truckers choose to work as independent contractors because of the economic opportunity it creates and the flexibility it provides, enabling them to run their own business and choose their own hours and routes. The Biden Administration’s IC rule eliminates this freedom and intentionally undermines the livelihoods of truckers and their families across the country by replacing a clear, straight-forward standard with a tangled mess that will weaken our supply chain,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a release.
The resolution is also supported by “Save Independent Work,” a coalition of independent workers and advocacy groups including the California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA), Freelancers Against AB5, and the Commonwealth Foundation.
