Employers Use Courts to ‘Raise the Cost’ on DOL Rule Reversal

The business lobby is using a Texas legal challenge to frustrate the Biden administration’s agenda for the gig economy and throw up burdensome roadblocks for the U.S. Labor Department as it moves to nix a Trump-era rule on independent contractors.

The case filed in late March by the Coalition for Workforce Innovation—with members including Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft, and Postmates—claims the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act with a decision to put off the rule, which makes it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors.

“These are legal skirmishes designed to kind of raise the cost of ...