Department of Labor

Labor, climate costs loom large for trucking in 2024

WASHINGTON — While election-year politics may gridlock Congress from passing meaningful truck-related legislation in 2024, the potential for a change in administrations could be a catalyst for finalizing two regulations that have major cost and operational implications for the industry.

Proposed rules to tighten standards for independent contractors and on carbon emissions from heavy trucks — both of which are undergoing final review at the White House — also fit squarely within the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/labor-climate-costs-loom-large-for-trucking-in-2024

Western Global Airlines’ owner investigated for retirement plan conflicts

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The Department of Labor has asked the federal judge overseeing Western Global Airlines’ bankruptcy...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/western-global-airlines-owner-investigated-for-retirement-plan-conflicts

DOL seeks misclassified Arizona delivery drivers who are owed millions

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) said this week it is still seeking nearly 1,400 Arizona drivers who are owed up to $5.6 million after a victory in a misclassification case that was settled in November.

Parts Authority Arizona LLC and Arizona Logistics Inc., which was operating as Diligent Delivery Systems, were ordered by a federal court to pay $2.8 million in back wages and $2.8 million in damages to 1,398 drivers who worked for the companies from 2012 to 2020.

“We want to make sure that...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dol-seeks-misclassified-arizona-delivery-drivers-who-are-owed-millions

15 states jump into California’s ongoing AB5 legal battle 

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A cascade of filings in the “other” AB5 case earlier this week includes one from 15 state attorneys...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fifteen-states-jump-into-californias-ongoing-ab5-legal-battle

New trucking trade group has 1 focus: DOL’s independent contractor rule

There’s a new trucking-focused trade group in Washington and it is interested in one issue: independent contractor status.

The group is called Truckers Integral to our Economy (TIE) and its executive director is Scott Brenner, who is also an executive director at Crossroads Strategies, a Washington-area lobbying firm. Brenner told FreightWaves he worked in Congress for about 10 years on the Ways and Means and Transportation committees and also spent time at the Department of Transportation...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/new-trucking-trade-group-has-1-focus-dols-independent-contractor-rule

Delivery drivers to share $5.6M in misclassification case victory

Nearly 1,400 delivery drivers will split $5.6 million following a yearslong investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, which found that a national auto parts distributor and an Arizona logistics company had misclassified their employee drivers as independent contractors.

The DOL’s consent judgment, obtained in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, orders joint employers Parts Authority Arizona LLC and Arizona Logistics Inc., operating as Diligent Delivery Systems, to pay $2.8...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/delivery-drivers-to-share-56m-in-misclassification-case-victory

DOL independent contractor definition could pose problems for truck fleets

The more than 160-page proposed rule on defining independent contractors now up for comment by the Department of Labor has a few provisions that transportation attorneys believe could be a problem for transportation companies.

While the proposed rule may be hefty in size, it does not include a great deal of specificity. (The words “truck” and “trucking” only appear once each.) This new DOL rule would replace a Trump administration rule still in effect after a court decision reinstated it after...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dol-independent-contractor-definition-could-pose-problems-for-truck-fleets

Biden administration seeks input on independent contractor definition

The Biden administration has started the process to formulate a new definition of independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The rule has been a ping-pong ball since the early days of the Biden administration. A Trump-era rule seen as more sympathetic to employers that want to define their workers as independent was tossed out by the Biden administration before it went into effect. That action was then overruled in court, and the Trump administration rule was implemented.

Even as...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/biden-administration-seeks-input-on-independent-contractor-definition

Viewpoint: Federal court reinstates Trump-era DOL independent contractor rule

A Texas federal district court recently reinstated the independent contractor rule that was put into place by President Trump’s Department of Labor. The rule was previously withdrawn by the Biden Administration.

Background

At the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a rule that sought to clarify the controlling factors for who is, and who is not, an independent contractor for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The rule consisted of two main...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/viewpoint-federal-court-reinstates-trump-era-dol-independent-contractor-rule

Senate rejects Weil as Wage and Hour administrator

David Weil will not be responsible for defining what constitutes an independent contractor. A vote to invoke cloture and stop a filibuster of Weil’s ratification as head of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor failed in the Senate Wednesday by a 53-47 vote.  

Three Democrats — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona — voted with the entire Republican caucus in the Senate. 

Had the cloture vote succeeded, it would have allowed the full Senate to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/senate-rejects-weil-as-wage-and-hour-administrator

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