THE US Labour Department unveiled a final rule that overhauls the criteria for determining the classification of workers as either independent contractors or employees, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.

This regulatory change, contested by numerous trucking organisations, has the potential to prompt a costly reassessment of how trucking and drayage companies engage contractors, including many independent drayage drivers.

The rulemaking serves as a focal point in a more significant conflict concerning the "gig" economy and the utilisation of contractors, a dispute that has persisted for years, particularly in California and drayage markets.

In these areas, various groups, such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, advocate for the reclassification of independent truckers as employees.

Despite its implementation on March 11, the final rule is unlikely to bring an end to this ongoing battle. Trucking groups are gearing up to challenge the Biden administration in court, with the leader of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) denouncing the ruling as "un-American."

Associations like the ATA link the rulemaking to what they perceive as a "radical California agenda," drawing parallels to California's AB5 law.

"The burdensome new requirements significantly limit the use of independent contractors in the trucking industry and threaten to force the reclassification of over 80 per cent of intermodal drayage drivers that currently enjoy independent contractor status," said the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA).