Biden FY 2022 budget portends increased workplace enforcement

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) budget proposed by President Joe Biden requests an average 14% increase over previous years with its key enforcement agencies receiving the largest appropriations.

Independent contractors targeted

Increased spending to identify and penalize worker misclassification is a clear budget goal with both the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announcing their intent to focus on the volatile topic. The additional goal of bringing more independent contractors under the protection of the labor and employment laws is likely to be pursued by the DOL’s various agencies, including the WHD, the EEOC, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Some of the efforts, which are overtly targeted at the so-called “gig economy,” will likely be deferred until the Senate has acted on the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act because it includes new definitions and standards that would significantly limit employers from classifying as many workers as independent contractors. If the legislative effort fails, as is widely anticipated, a combination of new regulations and Executive Orders is expected in short order.

Federal government contractors, already ordered to pay a $15 minimum wage, will be the “laboratory” for a number of proworker measures, from classification to joint-employer liability to neutrality in labor organizing. The OFCCP, the agency overseeing federal contractors, will receive a 43% increase, the largest proposed at the DOL.