Congress Reviews Department of Labor Rule
You might remember how we wrote about the impending lawsuit coming from Louisiana regarding independent contractor classification and how it will have negative effects on the trucking industry, but the judicial branch is not the only check and balance impeding the Department of Labor. Now, Congress wants in on the action.
Details
Representative Kevin Kiley, a Republican from California, introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution with 55 cosponsors to overturn the Department of Labor’s worker classification rule, with Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana doing the same in the Senate.
“Gavin Newsom and Julie Su’s AB 5 severely restricted independent contracting in California, destroying thousands of livelihoods and harming California’s economy,” Kiley said in announcing this turn of events. “…Our legislation under the Congressional Review Act nullifies this terrible regulation and protects independent contractors. Washington should support workers, not regulate them into oblivion.”
Conclusion
As great as these two resolutions sound, it has a slim chance of getting passed. A CRA needs to be either approved by two-thirds of both halves of Congress, or receive a simple majority in both and then approval from the president. The odds that Biden will approve such a resolution that flies directly in the face of his own Administration is miniscule, perhaps only larger than the chances of it reaching a supermajority in the House.
When Trump first became president in 2017, he worked with Congress to sign resolutions that nullified similar regulations from the Obama Administration. The best chance that the trucking industry has of fighting these classification rules is to have Trump win the presidency in November 2024 and do the same to Biden-era regulations.
The alternative is to have it go through the court system, but that could take years and may not end favorably for owner-operators driving under the Authority of a larger carrier, as the Supreme Court declined to hear a similar case on the statewide level.
Whatever happens, the only thing for sure is that these next handful of months are going to be a wild and exciting ride. We will keep you posted as news continues to develop on this Department of Labor rule.
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