DOL Moves to Repeal Independent Contractor Rule
Date Posted: September 23, 2025
Posted In: Discussion,
From Construction Dive: The Department of Labor intends to rescind a 2024 rule on independent contractor classification, according to its regulatory agenda. The agency did not signal how it intends to change the rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The rule is a method of determining if a worker is an independent contractor or a full-time employee, and therefore owed benefits by their employer. For construction, the rule is significant in determining if someone is employed as a subcontractor or directly by the general contractor on the jobsite.
It’s not the first rule pivot in recent years. The 2024 shift under President Joe Biden marked a change from a 2021 move at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term. The Biden administration’s revision, effective March 2024, has faced five separate legal challenges.
Dive Insight:
The current framework uses a “totality of the circumstances” method, weighing six major factors considered by the DOL to determine employer status. They include:
- Worker opportunity for profit or loss
- Investments made by the worker and the employer
- Degree of permanence of the work relationship
- Nature and degree of control over performance of the work
- Extent to which the work performed is an integral part of the employer’s business
- Use of worker’s skill and initiative
By contrast, the previous rule approached workers’ control and profit-loss opportunity.