Republicans Decry Push for Independent Contractor SEC Disclosure

Several Republican senators are condemning calls for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to include independent contractors and subcontracted workers in mandatory disclosures, in addition to full-time employees.

The pushback is triggered in part by the SEC’s interest in requiring additional “human capital” disclosures at a time when investors and the general public are more closely monitoring companies’ environmental, social, and governance policies. Broadly, human capital includes factors such as workers’ skills, training, demographics, safety, and how a company supports its employees.

The SEC should “reject calls to inject social engineering of the nation’s workforce” by including ...