Chairman Cassidy Applauds Department of Labor’s Efforts Supporting Independent Workers, Encourages Portable Benefits

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Jim Banks (R-IN), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) applaud the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) recent proposed rule giving independent workers much needed clarity and consistency. This reverses Biden's ill-informed rule which threatened independent workers' livelihood.

"President Trump's Department of Labor has taken an important step to support a vital group of working Americans. The proposed rule published on February 27, 2026, would provide stronger legal clarity for working Americans who choose and prefer independent status," wrote the senators.

The senators also urged DOL to support opportunities for independent workers to access benefits like health care and retirement, writing that these updates "will benefit millions of Americans who prefer the flexibility of self-employment and entrepreneurial pathways, without disrupting traditional employment models."

To further support independent workers, Cassidy's Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act aims to establish a safe harbor under federal law for companies that would like to voluntarily provide benefits. The senators encourage the DOL to partner with Congress to expand portable benefits opportunities.

Read the full letter here or below:

Dear Acting Secretary Sonderling,

The Department of Labor (DOL or Department) has taken an important step to support a vital group of working Americans. The proposed rule published on February 27, 2026, would provide stronger legal clarity for working Americans who choose and prefer independent status under three statutes your agency enforces, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). As Chair and members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, we support providing this clarity and suggest additional ways to support these working Americans, including by making it easier for them to accumulate and consolidate benefits.

The Department's proposed rule was made necessary because of an ill-informed rule finalized by the Biden Administration in 2024. This rule would have defined independent contractor status so broadly and with such discretion that it would have provided no certainty, thereby threatening Americans' ability to find this type of work at all. In contrast, the rule proposed by DOL would apply the economic realities test and specify two core factors, the nature and degree of control over the workers' opportunities for profit and loss. This rule will provide much needed clarity and consistency to DOL's application of the law.

The Biden administration failed to acknowledge that millions of Americans actively choose independent work over traditional roles, citing flexibility, dependent care obligations, and personal care circumstances as chief reasons. These workers include truck drivers, construction workers, subcontractors, direct sellers, musicians, actors, writers, software designers, physicians, and participants in the app or "gig" economy, among many other professions. Some engage in independent work to supplement their main income from a traditional job, while others pursue full careers as independent contractors. Anecdotally, many independent workers, occupied with educational opportunities or caregiving responsibilities, would be disengaged from the workforce if not for the flexibility independent work provides, and such disengagement would limit U.S. productivity as well as the individual worker's ability to find future work at whatever level the worker chose.

In addition to the meaningful clarity this proposed rule will grant, we encourage the Department to support emerging opportunities for independent workers to accumulate and consolidate benefits. Currently, entities that work with independent workers fear they are restricted from offering portable benefits. In fact, labor and employment laws were never intended to prevent workers from accessing benefits. Yet decades-old laws, and the tests that courts and agencies employ to determine employment status under these laws, bind the provision of benefits to traditional employment status, even if inadvertently. Companies fear offering voluntary benefits will expose them to misclassification lawsuits that can be ruinous. This is backwards-looking and unfairly disadvantages independent workers, as most companies decline opportunities to provide non-employees benefits altogether over fears of expensive litigation.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored this dynamic. During the pandemic, companies that worked with independent contractors faced ambiguity as to whether they could provide payments, paid sick leave, personal protective equipment, or training without such offerings being used as evidence of employment status. Clarity regarding offering such benefits to independent workers would have benefited the workers and promoted public health.

Innovative companies and trail-blazing states are evolving new frameworks to allow popular freelance work status and simultaneously permit those independent workers to draw greater benefits. Several states have taken the lead to support portable benefit programs through comprehensive laws or pilot programs, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Utah, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Several more states are considering legislation to adopt portable benefits frameworks, including Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Louisiana. In states that have modernized their laws, the private sector has responded quickly in launching tailored portable benefit programs. Feedback from independent worker participants in such programs is overwhelmingly positive. The growing demand for greater flexibility within the law cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, the biggest impediment to the growth of new portable benefit opportunities for workers remains interpretation of federal laws and litigation.

We invite the Department to work with Congress to decouple the provision of benefits from the fear of potentially ruinous misclassification lawsuits. In a final rule, the Department can provide assurance that voluntary benefits available to independent workers, particularly when not indicative of control of such workers, is not a relevant factor in the Department's economic realities test. Similarly, it should be clarified that neither benefits offered nor actions taken by a business to comply with federal, state, or local legal requirements will be considered indicative of control. These clarifications would create a more favorable litigation environment for independent work and the portable benefits model and likely spur more innovative products to better serve workers seeking independence.

The current landscape offers a tremendous opportunity for the Department to learn from states that are implementing portable benefits frameworks, evaluate the value of these new benefits for workers, and offer support and technical assistance. We have introduced legislation to create a clear federal safe harbor for portable benefits, the Unlocking Benefits for Independent Works Act (S. 2210). As this bill continues to gain support and move through the legislative process, we urge the Department to aid the efforts of businesses hoping to offer portable benefits and states adopting portable benefits laws.

The movement to expand portable benefits opportunities is building quickly due to strong demand. Further growth will benefit millions of Americans who prefer the flexibility of self-employment and entrepreneurial pathways, without disrupting traditional employment models. As the workforce is changing and modernizing, it is critical that outdated federal policies do not create senseless barriers that deprive workers of benefits.

Sincerely,

###

For all news and updates from HELP Republicans, visit ourwebsite or Twitterat @GOPHELP.