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The U.S. Department of Labor proposed a rule yesterday that would make it more difficult for companies to treat workers as independent contractors, a change that is expected to shake up ride-hailing, delivery and other industries that rely on gig workers, Reuters reported. The proposal would require that workers be considered a company's employees, entitled to more benefits and legal protections than contractors, when they are "economically dependent" on the company. It could have wide-ranging impacts on company profits and hiring, and household incomes and worker quality of life. The Labor Department could restrict independent contracting and said it will consider workers' opportunity for profit or loss, the permanency of their jobs, and the degree of control a company exercises over a worker, among other factors. The final rule is expected next year. Most federal and state labor laws, such as those requiring a minimum wage and overtime pay, only apply to a company's employees. Employees can cost companies up to 30% more than independent contractors, studies suggest. Millions of Americans are working "gig" jobs, and this labor has become vital to some transportation, restaurant, construction, health care and other business models.

A bankruptcy judge denied a request by creditors of Hale & Hearty Soups LLC to appoint an interim trustee to oversee the property of the now-defunct lunch purveyor in New York City, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge James Garrity of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Thursday rejected the request from Hale & Hearty’s landlord APF Properties LLC and vendors Baldor Specialty Foods Inc. and Westside Foods Inc., saying that the creditors didn’t provide any evidence to support their allegations against the company that they said would warrant a trustee. “This is an extraordinary remedy, and you have a burden to demonstrate that there is a cause for the requested relief,” Judge Garrity said. “And most respectfully, you haven’t done it, because there is no evidence to support what you contended in your motion.” Judge Garrity said that he would reconsider an appointment of a trustee if the creditors provide sufficient evidence. The company’s owner, Pinchas Shapiro, through his lawyer, said that he would work with any fiduciary appointed by the court to help stakeholders recover “as much value as possible.” The COVID-19 pandemic has emptied out Manhattan’s business districts, and many restaurants, including lunch places, didn’t survive. Before the pandemic, the soup-and-sandwich chain had more than 20 stores, mostly in Manhattan, but all were closed in July, according to a court filing. The company has been placed under chapter 7 since last week when the creditors filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition in an attempt to collect about $816,780 that they said they are owed.

Peloton, the beleaguered at-home gym equipment maker, is laying off about 500 employees in the company’s latest effort to bolster its deteriorating finances, the New York Times reported. The company will be left with around 3,825 employees after the latest round of job cuts, which account for around 12 percent of its work force, said Ben Boyd, a Peloton spokesman. This is Peloton’s fourth round of layoffs this year. At the end of June 2021, the company employed more than 6,700 people. The layoffs are the company’s most recent attempt to restructure its operations after the huge growth it recorded during the height of the pandemic faded as lockdowns lifted and economies reopened. Peloton’s stationary bikes and fitness classes became popular when people were isolated at home and gyms were closed, but it has since run into financial difficulties because of supply chain issues and falling demand. Barry McCarthy was appointed chief executive in February, replacing John Foley, a co-founder of Peloton, who said it had been a “humbling time” for the company as he stepped aside. Peloton said in July that it would outsource all its manufacturing to an overseas company, and more executive departures came in September. The company reported a $1.2 billion loss in its latest quarter, its sixth losing quarter in a row.

U.S. companies hired at a solid clip in September, suggesting demand for workers remains healthy despite rising economic uncertainty, Bloomberg News reported. Businesses’ payrolls rose 208,000 last month after an upwardly revised 185,000 gain in August, according to data from ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. While there are some signs of moderation in labor demand, the ADP data reinforce what’s still a strong jobs market, complicating efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool decades-high inflation without triggering a jump in unemployment. Applications for unemployment insurance remain historically low, and while job openings are coming down, they’re still extremely elevated. Nearly three-fourths of the increase in private payrolls last month was driven by a surge in employment in trade, transportation and utilities. Employment in manufacturing and mining declined. Payrolls in financial activities also fell, to the lowest level since December 2020.

The U.S. services industry slowed modestly in September while employment surged and a measure of prices paid by businesses for inputs fell to more than a 1-1/2-year low, suggesting underlying strength in the economy despite rising interest rates, Reuters reported. That was underscored by other data on Wednesday showing private employers increased hiring last month. The trade deficit also narrowed in August to the lowest level in more than a year amid falling imports, prompting Goldman Sachs to boost its third-quarter gross domestic product tracking estimate by a full percentage point to a 1.9% annualized rate. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its non-manufacturing PMI dipped to a reading of 56.7 last month from 56.9 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the non-manufacturing PMI would fall to 56.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the services sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. The U.S. central bank has hiked its policy rate from the near-zero level at the beginning of this year to the current range of 3.00% to 3.25%, and last month signaled more large increases were on the way this year.

Pipeline Health System LLC, an operator of a network of community hospitals and health clinics serving patients on government insurance or who are uninsured, has filed for bankruptcy, citing rising labor costs and aging facilities, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The privately held hospital owner filed for chapter 11 on Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston to restructure roughly $603 million in senior debt and leases to address problems in the business that the company says have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said it plans to either sell its operations or hand the business to lenders. Pipeline blamed its bankruptcy in part on rising labor costs that cut into its margins and aging medical facilities that required significant expenditures to continue operating. The company, whose patients mostly rely on Medicare and Medicaid, said it has also had problems getting timely funding from federal and state authorities. Based in El Segundo, Calif., Pipeline operates seven so-called safety-net hospitals that provide care to vulnerable or socioeconomically disadvantaged patients. The company’s facilities include Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, White Rock Medical Center in Dallas, Coast Plaza Hospital in Norwalk, Calif., East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital and Memorial Hospital of Gardena in Gardena, Calif. Read more.

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A work assignment dispute in Seattle is interrupting labor talks covering 29 U.S. West Coast ports and 22,000 employees that handle almost 40% of U.S. imports, the union representing dockworkers said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) employer group have been negotiating a new contract since July 1. The ILWU's announcement on Tuesday comes after the two sides have traded jabs in the media about automation, another contentious issue at the negotiating table. The ILWU alleged that PMA member SSA Marine — operator of the largest container facility in the Pacific Northwest — colluded with an unnamed union in Seattle to trigger a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing that could clear the way for SSA to use another workforce to do "cold ironing" work that allows docked ships to use electricity from shore. The ILWU said its members exclusively perform cold ironing work in the Pacific Northwest. The union alleged that employers are using the NLRB to avoid assigning work to ILWU members — an issue it said was addressed in 2008 bargaining.

The economy is weakening, big companies from Ford Motor Co. to Facebook’s parent are cutting jobs or freezing hiring and inflation is eating into household budgets. Yet for many small-business owners, finding workers is as difficult as ever, the Wall Street Journal reported. The challenges are prompting some entrepreneurs to seek more creative ways to fill labor shortages at a time they might have expected hiring to get easier. More than one-third of small businesses said hiring challenges had worsened in the three months ended Sept. 1, according to a Goldman Sachs survey of nearly 1,500 small-business owners. Forty-seven percent of them said finding and retaining qualified employees was the most significant problem small businesses faced, up from 43% in the survey released in June. Nearly 60% of small companies report that worker shortages are affecting their ability to operate at full capacity, according to a September survey of more than 725 small-business owners by Vistage Worldwide Inc., a business coaching and peer advisory firm. Southeast Constructors Inc. in Des Moines, Iowa, is addressing the labor shortage by creating its own training school. The new academy, set to open early next year, will offer three months of instruction in construction basics such as how to hang drywall, paint and drive a Bobcat. The heavy-construction firm hopes to hire some graduates of the program, which is expected to start with 50 students.