My impression of European electrical outlets is that they seem surprised, as if they don’t know what might be coming. I saw this one in our Airbnb in Lake Como.

Am I wrong? Didn’t think so.

The outlet should not be surprised at what’s coming. And DOL Acting Director Julie Su should not have been surprised either when she was issued a subpoena by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has been at odds with the DOL for some time. In particular, Foxx et al. have doubts about the legitimacy of the Su-led DOL’s belief that independent contractor misclassification is rampant. The Committee believes that the DOL is being too aggressive in seeking to find misclassification in relationships that are, in reality, properly classified as independent contractor relationships.

In March, the Committee sent the DOL a series of inquiries about its enforcement efforts. But the DOL largely evaded the questions. After ongoing back and forth, the Committee has finally issued a subpoena to the DOL, demanding production of specific information about the DOL’s enforcement activities.

More specifically, the subpoena requests documents sufficient to show, since January 20, 2021:

1. The number of instances of misclassification that Wage and Hour Division (WHD) inspectors have found.
2. The number of misclassification enforcement investigations that WHD has initiated.
3. The number of misclassification enforcement investigations that WHD has jointly undertaken with the NLRB.
4. The number of misclassification enforcement investigations that WHD has jointly undertaken with the FTC.

Responses to the subpoena are due October 7th. I don’t expect we’ll see direct answers.

And when that happens, it will be no surprise.

© 2024 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.