Labor Department Issues New Guidance on Independent Contractor Enforcement

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has issued a field assistance bulletin outlining how agency investigators will determine whether a worker is classified as an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

While the department reviews the 2024 final rule, “Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” — which is currently being challenged in federal court — investigators have been instructed not to apply the new rule in enforcement actions.

Instead, the division will rely on long-standing principles detailed in Fact Sheet No. 13, as well as guidance from a reinstated opinion letter, FLSA2019-6. The opinion letter offers additional clarification for classifying workers, particularly those engaged with virtual marketplace platforms.

The updated guidance does not change any existing regulations but reflects how the department is allocating enforcement resources while legal and regulatory questions are addressed. The bulletin supersedes any previous or conflicting instructions given to Wage and Hour Division staff regarding the enforcement of independent contractor misclassification.

The department may still pursue enforcement in specific cases, as deemed appropriate by the Wage and Hour administrator or a designee.

For more information, employers and workers can call the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-487-9243.

To read the full news release, visit: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20250501