Staff Reports
A congressional committee is putting the pedal to the metal on retaining the independent contractor model, and they are not afraid to bring the heat down on Biden’s Labor Department. North Carolina’s U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx is at the forefront, firing off letters like a caffeinated mailman, demanding answers from interim Labor Secretary Julie Su. Apparently, Su’s response rate rivals that of a sloth on a lazy Sunday, as she has failed to provide the necessary data to help the committee with its oversight duties. Foxx is drawing a line in the sand, claiming this lack of communication is nothing less than a blatant obstruction of Congress’s lawful oversight capabilities.
The crux of the issue revolves around the Biden administration’s apparent desire to classify as many independent contractors as employees as possible. One can only assume that the administration believes wrapping workers in heavy bureaucratic red tape will somehow lead to a happier workforce. Foxx’s committee is relentless, seeking to expose the administration’s strategy of increasing government control over workers under the guise of worker rights. It’s like watching a soap opera where the villain is dressed in bureaucratic red tape instead of all black.
The new rules put into effect back in March throw a bit of a curveball into the determination of whether a worker is classified as independent or an employee. A set of six criteria is now being used to decide if an independent worker deserves legal protections. It’s a bureaucratic game of “Guess Who?” that includes everything from the worker’s profit potential to their skillset. Unsurprisingly, this convoluted process favors the kind of government oversight that independent contractors, an estimated 70 million strong, typically cringe at.
Foxx’s latest letter makes it clear that the committee isn’t just riding the government oversight merry-go-round for fun. She emphasizes that Su’s previous responses were about as useful as a chocolate teapot. The committee is eager to look into instances of misclassification and enforcement investigations, and it seems those investigations might lead back to the administration, disguised as an overzealous effort to regulate the independent workforce. The committee needs this data to figure out the Labor Department’s final rules on independent contractors and even contemplate some legislative action.
Committee fights to stop ‘government control’ over 70M gig workers https://t.co/kkuMJiwHxR
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 9, 2024
On top of this bureaucratic circus, Julie Su’s Department of Labor had already caught the ire of attorneys general across nearly two dozen states for its rules on farm workers, which they alleged put foreign nationals ahead of U.S. citizens. If that’s not a warning, then what is? Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach even charged that the Labor Department is trying to bypass Congress altogether. With all this drama boiling over, it’s clear Foxx and her committee aren’t backing down; they’re poised to take on the labor overlords, one letter at a time.
