The trade association representing America’s largest gig companies is backing President Trump’s nominees to lead the Department of Labor—an endorsement that could shape the future of worker classification in the gig economy.
Flex, the lobbying group founded in 2022 by names including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, said Wednesday it’s in favor of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the department and for Keith Sonderling to serve as deputy secretary.
“The Department of Labor has a key role in helping build a future-forward, modern economy,” Flex CEO Kristin Sharp said in a press release. “That includes supporting app-based independent work, which benefits millions of earners, consumers, and communities . . . Once confirmed, we look forward to working with these leaders to advance policies that continue the innovation and economic opportunities of the app-based platform industry.”
Spokespeople for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash did not respond to Fast Company‘s requests for comment on the nominations and Flex’s support. Instacart pointed to the Flex statement.
Gig companies, at their core, rely on models that classify the workers who ferry people and goods at the click of a button as independent contractors rather than traditional employees. This allows them to keep costs low and aids them in their missions to turn profits, ultimately pleasing shareholders. If gig companies were forced to classify their workers as employees, labor costs would dramatically rise.
A Trump-led Labor Department could also roll back workplace protections on wages, overtime, and collective bargaining rights. Policies around independent contractors often intersect with broader labor issues, such as whether gig workers qualify for benefits like health insurance or minimum wage protections—key points of contention between businesses and labor advocates.
Still, certain lawmakers and advocacy groups are arguing that this new way of work deserves to have the same protections and classifications as full-time employees. Most of the efforts so far have fallen to cities and local governments. But the Trump administration’s picks could take a federal stance to update what it means to classify independent contractors. A more business-friendly stance at the federal level could embolden gig companies in ongoing legal battles and policy debates across states.
“It’s almost highly likely that the Trump DoL will make it easier for companies to classify (many would say, ‘misclassify’) gig workers as independent contractors, and far harder for gig workers to get employee status,” John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, says in an email to Fast Company. “Of course, the Labor Department is only one player here, albeit an important one: the ‘pro-business’ position of the Labor Department will also be used by platform companies in ongoing litigation at the state level and unions and companies will continue to fight this out in the courts and through state politics.”
Chavez-DeRemer, who served one term as congresswoman in Ohio, was widely seen as a pro-worker pick. During her time in office, she seemed to support the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act, which was extremely important to labor unions and could alter independent contractor classifications, and was endorsed by the Teamsters Union. However, Chavez-DeRemer appeared to have reassured Republicans during a Republican-led Senate committee confirmation hearing last month. She told members she was in full support of Trump’s agenda and walked back support of the PRO Act. “If confirmed, my job will be to implement President Trump’s policy division, and my guiding principle will be President Trump’s guiding principle,” she said.
Sonderling’s position as deputy secretary, meantime, “is intended to reassure members of the business community, and groups that are hostile to organized labor,” Logan says. Sonderling served under Trump in the Department of Labor in the past and as a Republican commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 2019, Sonderling issued an opinion letter that essentially said an unidentified company, whose workers appeared to clean residences, were contractors, not employees. Many argued that the move signaled the Trump administration’s broader approach to gig companies.
“On the issue of gig workers, unions have consistently argued that workers should be classify as employees and not independent contractors; that they should be covered by the NLRA and other federal labor and employment laws and have the right to unionize and bargain collectively,” Logan says. “I do not expect they will have much joy on this issue under the Trump administration, even with Chavez-DeRemer as Labor Secretary.”
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