Are you an employee or an independent contractor? Regulators have a new litmus test.

For Marketplace, I'm Nova Safo and for David Brancaccio.

The Labor Department has a new rule for determining which workers are independent contractors and which should be classified as employees with rights to minimum wage, overtime, and other benefits.

This is a change to a Trump-era policy.

Marketplace is Mitchell Hartman, as more.

The Trump administration's rule was more independent contractor-friendly,

focusing mostly on the employer's control of working conditions

and how much opportunity the worker had to make a profit or loss.

The new rule considers the whole economic relationship,

says Employment Attorney Denise Kaiser at law firm Ballard-Spar.

Are they truly independent?

Are they in business for themselves?

Are they investing in materials or equipment?

Are they running their own business? Are they running the show?

That's a lot of boxes to check off to prove someone working for you is an independent contractor,

not an employee. And Sally Duarach Fisher at the National Employment Law Project says that will make it harder for gig

economy companies to explain why their drivers aren't eligible for the full benefits of employment.

Laid out in the rule, one of the factors is,

does the worker meaningfully negotiate or set their own prices?

Ride-held drivers in many app-based workers

have no power to negotiate much less set their own prices.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has opposed the new rule.

...