BG&A partner Jonathan Berry was quoted in a recent Bloomberg Law Daily Labor Report about the Department of Labor’s plan to propose and finalize a worker classification regulation defining when workers are independent contractors or employees under federal wage law.
Since his arrival in September, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia has advanced an assertive deregulatory agenda focusing on ensuring enforcement is consistent and doesn’t unfairly punish well-intentioned employers.
An independent contractor regulation is a natural outgrowth of that philosophy, said Jonathan Berry, who was Scalia’s top policy official at DOL through April.
“The employment relationship question is perhaps the murkiest and most important question under the Fair Labor Standards Act and so it’s a natural target for a Scalia Labor Department that wants to dispel regulatory uncertainty wherever possible,” said Berry, now a partner at administrative law firm Boyden Gray & Associates in Washington. “I know that regulatory clarity about rights and obligations, avoiding unfair surprise, giving fair notice—those have been extremely consistent themes of Secretary Scalia’s leadership, both publicly and internally.”
The entire story, DOL Aims to Fast-Track Worker Classification Rule to 2020 Finish, by reporter Ben Penn and published July 2, 2020, is available here.