FSI Chief Vows to Keep Fighting DOL Indie Contractor Rule

The Labor Department’s new independent contractor rule “is a big step backwards,” and remains “a major issue” for the Financial Services Institute, Dale Brown, president and CEO of FSI, said Tuesday. “We have engaged that fight and it will continue.”

During a media call from FSI’s annual OneVoice conference in Palm Desert, California, Brown said Labor’s new independent contractor rule shows DOL doesn’t “understand the independent advisor model and gig economy workers — these are professionals that own their own businesses, own their own practices. They chose to be independent.”

FSI is also bracing for Labor to release a new fiduciary rule this year.

Robin Traxler, FSI’s deputy general counsel, added on the call that FSI will also continue to monitor states that may push ahead with their own versions of independent contractor rules, “including any states that dropped that effort last year but could resurrect it in 2023.”

Minnesota and New York had proposals that weren’t acted upon last year.

FSI “will strongly resist” a new fiduciary rule “if we find that it is as unworkable as the 2016 rule,” Traxler said.

David Bellaire, FSI’s general counsel, added on the call that FSI’s stance regarding Labor’s independent contractor rule is that it “should be withdrawn.”