Ron Schirtzer and Hannah Hopper Detail Worker Classification Rule's Potential Impact on Transportation Sector
Ronald Schirtzer and Hannah Hopper authored an article for Law.com’s Daily Business Review on a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division called “Employee or Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Protection Act.”
“The purpose of the proposed rule is to rescind and replace the current framework for determining employment or independent contractor status with a modified rule based on standards previously established by the DOL,” Schirtzer said.
In addition to offering insight and background on the proposal, Schirtzer addressed potential impacts the rule could have specifically on the transportation industry. If formally adopted, the 2026 rule will maintain and codify transportation companies’ ability to generally treat owner-operators who maintain the ability to choose their own assignments and are subject to minimal control over working conditions as independent contractors who are not entitled to overtime and other FLSA, FMLA or MSAPA benefits. This is a departure from a 2024 rule and is particularly noteworthy in a transportation sector where many drivers own their own vehicles and/or work for a self-owned business contract with other trucking companies.
“To assure protection under the revised rules and avoid unintended triggering of benefits or liability for drivers’ negligent acts, companies seeking to treat owner-operator drivers as independent contractors should take care to ensure that restrictions and supervision of these drivers, such as the setting of routes and schedules and the imposition of uniform requirements, are kept to a minimum,” Schirtzer explained.
The full article is available here.
