Workers Poised to Get Benefits as Rule Creates 'Employees'

Labor, Employment and Benefits attorney Timothy Taylor was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article about how the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) new independent contractor rule may compel more employers to provide benefits. The article indicated the rule could motivate employers to treat more contractors as full employees able to receive benefits covered by other laws, as a result of divergent legal definitions and the potential consequences of misclassification. This will lead to employers having to carefully follow how the new test affects their classification and benefits determinations going forward. Mr. Taylor pointed out that the rule's consideration of multiple equal factors under the "economic realities" standard will create less certainty for companies.

"One major impact of the rule's going to be somewhat increased legal unpredictability, because the new rule is returning to an old test that' open-ended," he said.

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