A new proposed rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor would strip working mothers and family caregivers of critical workplace protections—including the right to take lactation breaks and job-protected leave to care for a newborn or sick family member. By changing the definition of “employee” under federal law, the proposed rule would make it easier for employers to deny these basic protections to some of the most vulnerable workers, such as home health care workers, housekeepers, and delivery drivers.
WorkLife Law has filed a formal comment urging the U.S. Department of Labor to withdraw the proposed rule, which would make it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. Our team also co-authored a group regulatory comment alongside the National Partnership for Women & Families and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project to highlight the harmful impacts this rule change would have on gender equity. The multi-organization comment was cosigned by 36 organizations from across the country.
WorkLife Law’s position on the proposed rule is heavily informed by our free legal helpline, which has helped hundreds of employees to use their rights under the FLSA’s PUMP Act provision and the FMLA—including workers who would lose their rights when this rule goes into effect. Notably, women and low-income workers are more likely to work in impacted positions. “No one should have to choose between their paycheck and their family,” said WorkLife Law Co-Director Liz Morris. “This rule would force exactly that choice on the workers who can least afford it.”
WorkLife Law is particularly concerned about how the federal regulation change would impact mothers and family caregivers who would no longer be covered by the PUMP Act and FMLA.
The PUMP Act passed in 2022 with broad bipartisan support and requires employers to provide break time and a private space for workers to express breast milk for up to one year after birth. WorkLife Law helped secure this law after years of documenting the consequences workers faced without it—including painful infections, premature weaning, and job loss. Reclassifying vulnerable workers as independent contractors takes away their right to these protections, narrowing that hard-won expansion. It also directly contradicts the Trump administration’s stated goals of supporting families and increasing breastfeeding rates.
The FMLA provides eligible employees up to twelve weeks of job-protected leave with continued health insurance benefits for birth, adoption, or serious illness–for themselves or a family member. Workers reclassified as contractors would lose this safety net entirely.
“The delivery drivers and other gig workers likely to be impacted by this new rule have their every move tracked,” said WorkLife Law Staff Attorney Leah Kennedy. “For these workers, pausing work to express breast milk is not an option. Self-accommodation is effectively self-termination.” WorkLife Law urges the Department of Labor to rescind the rule and avoid these devastating consequences for mothers, caregivers, and other low-wage workers.