Sponsors (2)
Official title: To classify qualified locum tenens professionals and advanced care practitioners as independent contractors for the purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the National Labor Relations Act.
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Burgess Owens · Last progress April 16, 2026
The bill increases staffing flexibility and reduces facility liability by enabling short-term independent clinicians, but does so by stripping those workers of wage protections and collective bargaining rights and risking continuity and cost-quality tradeoffs for patients and taxpayers.
Hospitals and clinics can more easily hire short-term physicians and advanced practitioners for temporary coverage without triggering employer obligations, improving facility staffing flexibility and ability to fill gaps.
Qualified temporary clinicians gain greater scheduling flexibility and marketplace access to short-term assignments across facilities, enabling more freelance or locum-style work.
Facilities face reduced risk of litigation over worker misclassification under the FLSA and NLRA for short-term clinicians, lowering legal exposure and compliance costs.
Qualified clinicians who are treated as independent contractors lose wage-and-hour protections (overtime and minimum wage) they would have as employees.
Those clinicians are excluded from employee status under the NLRA, barring them from unionizing or engaging in protected collective bargaining and the written-contract requirement may pressure acceptance of weaker contractor terms, reducing bargaining power and benefits.
Facilities may shift long-term staffing needs and costs onto contingent workers, which can harm continuity of care and potentially raise costs for patients and taxpayers if care quality suffers or turnover increases.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Designates certain temporary physicians and advanced practice clinicians as independent contractors for FLSA and NLRA purposes when engaged under a written contract for up to one year at a single site.
Classifies certain temporary physicians and advanced practice clinicians who work short-term (up to one continuous year at a single site) under a written contract as independent contractors rather than employees for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act. The rule applies to physicians and specified advanced care practitioners working as locum tenens or for episodic staffing needs and creates a categorical override of the usual employee-status analysis under those two labor laws. The change narrows workplace protections tied to employee status (wage/hour coverage and collective bargaining/union protections) for the covered clinicians, while aiming to preserve flexible, temporary staffing arrangements often used in rural and underserved facilities.