The Wage and Hour Division’s SWACCA-supported final rule making it harder to misclassify workers as independent contractors took effect on March 11. SWACCA’s advocacy team has been working on this final rule since the previous presidential administration issued a revised interpretation of these standards that broke with decades of longstanding regulatory guidance and made it easier to classify construction workers as independent contractors. SWACCA has advocated for over three years for this new rule that reinstates the longstanding six-factor “totality of the circumstances” test developed by well-understood federal court decisions.

While the final rule took effect on March 11, the fight is far from over. SWACCA is engaged in battling Congressional Review Act resolutions in the House and Senate that seek to nullify this rulemaking. SWACCA is also monitoring ongoing litigation in several federal district courts seeking to invalidate this final rule.