Tip Sheets
New Biden labor rule ‘essential step to improve basic rights’ for workers
October 11, 2022
Media Contact
The U.S. Department of Labor unveiled a proposal that would make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors.
Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is a policy expert on workplace and labor issues. She says a federal rule is an essential step in improving standard rights for workers.
Patricia Campos-Medina
Executive director of the Worker Institute
“This is a long-awaited determination that will empower essential workers to assert their basic wage and hour, health and safety, and compensation rights. All workers are entitled to these rights, but employers easily avoid them by making arbitrary decisions on independent contractor rules.
“A federal rule avoids the mismatched set of state laws that change state by state and leave workers without any avenue to access basic social protection programs like unemployment insurance.
“This is one essential step in improving basic rights standards for precarious and low wage workers.”
