The final rule will very likely keep the two core factors, control and the opportunity for profit or loss, and extend the test to the FMLA and the MSPA. The open question is what counts as control, and on that point platforms and their workers are contesting the same tools.
Instacart and TechNet ask the Department to place matching algorithms, incentives and app notifications outside control. Critical drivers describe acceptance-rate tiers, penalties and hidden pay as the control they work under. The final rule's treatment of algorithmic management may prove more consequential for platform compliance than its choice of core factors.
At least 43 of 115 supporting letters ask for changes, and control is the most common subject. Because the proposal measures control by actual practice, the Department's treatment of app-based work could materially shape how platforms assess their classification risks.
Four forms and templates wrote 95.9% of the 16,363 typed comments, all in support. In a random sample, 28 of 88 unprompted personal comments criticize the rule or platform pay and control (32%, 95% interval 23 to 42%). The high volume reflects concentrated template mobilization and says little about the range of substantive arguments.
The rule changes the federal test only. California, Massachusetts and New Jersey keep their ABC tests, and New Jersey adopted final ABC rules for its wage and unemployment laws on May 5, 2026, operative October 1. Nine supporting letters cite state ABC tests, most as a warning. Multi-state operators will face overlapping classification standards, and 40 of 48 opposing letters frame the stakes through state unemployment insurance and tax revenue.
Support, 115. All platforms, 83 of 87 business and trade groups, the Senate HELP chair, the SBA Office of Advocacy.
Oppose, 48. Worker advocates, 6 of 7 unions, 7 of 10 government senders, and union-signatory construction contractors. Six letters seek major changes and one takes no position.
Oct. 28, 2026OIRA concluded its review, consistent with change, a month after receiving the rule on Sep. 28. Publication in the Federal Register can come at any time.
On publicationThe control examples for app work, construction and regulated industries, and how the Department answers the objections to its cost analysis.
After publicationState legislation on classification, and the pending cases over the 2024 rule. Challenge risk is material if the core-factor weighting stays unchanged.
Inventory matching, incentive, acceptance-rate and penalty practices now. On publication, assess them against the control guidance.
Check whether the final text separates mandatory securities compliance from control, as your associations asked.
Test lease-purchase and speed-limiter arrangements against the final examples, separating required compliance from operational control.
Map subcontracting and supervision practices to the final examples. If the rule gives the sector no specific treatment, weigh a request for a DOL opinion letter.
Plan for overlapping standards. The federal change leaves state ABC tests and state unemployment rules in place.
Compile state fiscal estimates and match them to the objections already on file, then judge the final rule by how it answers them.