House Committee Subpoenas DOL’s Julie Su Over Gig Worker Rule

A House panel issued a subpoena for Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su Monday, accusing her of stonewalling Congress on questions regarding the agency’s independent contractor rule.

Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in a letter that Su refused to comply with congressional requests for documents on Labor Department investigations of worker misclassification instances.

“DOL has again failed to provide the information needed for the Committee to review the Biden-Harris administration’s implementation of the FLSA [Fair Labor Standards Act]—particularly as it relates to classifying independent contractors as employees,” Foxx said in the letter. “Given DOL’s repeated failures, the Committee must now resort to compulsory action.”

The DOL’s employee classification rule, issued in January, has made it harder for employers to classify workers as independent contractors rather than full-time employees, who are guaranteed certain workplace rights under federal law. The subpoena marks an escalation in Republicans’ fight against the rule, which they say “drastically” increases government intervention in the workforce.

Foxx is requiring Su to produce documents that detail investigations into worker misclassification. Su must also document the total number of investigations undertaken with the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission.

The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, in charge of enforcing worker classification laws, has signed separate agreements with both the NLRBand the FTCto increase enforcement cooperation. Yet, Foxx alleges the DOL hasn’t fully provided details of these joint investigative efforts.