Workers Divide on Contractor Status, Complicating Biden Approach

Workers across various industries are divided on what approach the government should take when it comes to determining who should be an independent contractor or an employee under federal labor law, a gap that complicates the Biden administration’s efforts to combat worker misclassification.

Democrats, labor unions, and other worker-focused groups argue that large tech companies, as well as employers in other industries like health care and janitorial services, are misclassifying their workers as independent contractors to avoid the minimum wage, overtime pay, and tax liabilities that come with full employee status.

But some workers—namely translators, freelance journalists, truckers, among others—say ...