Sponsors (2)
Makes certain temporary physicians and advanced practice clinicians statutory independent contractors for FLSA and NLRA purposes when working ≤1 continuous year at one site under a written contract.
The bill makes it easier for health care facilities to fill short-term staffing needs and lowers employer risk, but does so by treating clinicians as nonemployees for those placements—yielding flexibility and potential pay upside for some while removing wage, benefits, and collective-bargaining protections and risking more precarious work for many providers.
Hospitals and clinics can more easily hire temporary clinicians for placements up to one year, improving staffing flexibility and reducing care gaps for patients and facilities.
Health care employers face clearer federal status for locum tenens clinicians and reduced employer liability for short-term placements, lowering litigation risk and some labor-related costs.
Some clinicians can obtain greater scheduling flexibility and the opportunity for higher hourly pay by working as independent contractors for short-term assignments.
Qualified clinicians placed as nonemployees lose FLSA wage and overtime protections and may be responsible for taxes and fringe-costs (health insurance, retirement), reducing take-home pay and benefits security.
Employers may rely on repeated short-term contracts (up to the one-year cap) to avoid creating employee status, increasing precarious, gig-like work and scheduling instability for clinicians.
Qualified clinicians are excluded from NLRA protections for those placements, preventing collective bargaining or union organizing related to the assignment.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
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 14, 2026 by Burgess Owens · Last progress April 14, 2026
Creates a narrow federal rule saying certain temporary clinicians who work as locum tenens or short-term advanced practice providers are not "employees" under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). To qualify, the clinician must provide temporary physician or advanced care practitioner services for no more than one continuous year at the same site under a written contract that states they are not to be treated as an employee, and must be a physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or certified registered nurse anesthetist. The effect is to make that group statutorily independent contractors for the two named federal labor laws, removing FLSA wage/hour protections and NLRA collective‑bargaining protections for qualifying temporary clinicians while they meet the bill’s conditions.