In the waning days of the Trump Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new final regulation about classifying workers as either employees or independent contractors. The announcement indicated the regulation would take effect on March 8, 2021.

As I have previously pointed out, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Treasury Department have been pursuing cases of misclassification of workers—that is, the practice of classifying a worker as an independent contractor instead of an employee. Employers typically resort to this approach as a means of reducing the employer’s share of withholding taxes—and several other “benefits.” See this previous discussion.

Just in case you don’t think the U.S. Department of Labor is serious about going after misclassification of workers:

Beginning in approximately 2009, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) began a crackdown on misclassification of workers. In 2011, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) joined the effort. Under an agreement between the two departments, the DOL will provide information to the IRS for investigation of potential misclassification.