On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 778), setting the table for its U.S. Senate passage this week.

On Dec. 13, ABC submitted comments opposing the U.S. Department of Labor’s independent contractor proposed rule, which eliminates the ABC-supported 2021 final rule’s emphasis on two “core” factors—a worker’s control over their work and their opportunity for profit or loss, both of which are paramount in making an independent contractor determination. Instead, the department’s approach is to restore a “totality-of-the circumstances” analysis of the “economic reality test.”

On Dec. 7, ABC submitted comments to the National Labor Relations Board urging the board to withdraw the new proposed joint employer rule and retain the current 2020 NLRB final rule, which provides clear criteria for companies to apply when determining status. In the comments, ABC argued that the new proposed rule will cause great confusion and uncertainty among construction contractors, specifically small business owners. More than 11,000 comments were submitted to the docket.

On Oct. 11, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a new proposal to rescind and replace a commonsense, ABC-supp