The U.S. Senate approved the nomination of former Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer on March 10, 2025 to be Secretary of the Department of Labor, potentially complicating the insights industry’s ability to provide incentives to research subjects who participate in market research studies.
Cloture was invoked with a 66-30 Senate vote on March 6, 2025. The Senate voted to confirm Secretary DeRemer by a 67-32 vote.
According to Howard Fienberg, Senior VP Advocacy for the Insights Association, “The insights industry welcomes Secretary DeRemer to her position with some trepidation, given her past comments and actions on independent contractor status. The issue is key to being able to provide research subjects with any kind of incentives for participation in market research studies, for which they must be treated as independent contractors (rather than employees of the firms conducting the studies). Unfortunately, current federal labor law and regulations can seem ambiguous on this point.”
Secretary DeRemer, during her nomination hearing, was questioned on independent contractor status and other policies related to her past support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act). Her answers suggested that she may no longer support the bill and its provisions. The PRO Act would, among other purposes, dramatically expand the definition of "employee" in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), adding an ABC test to determine if someone is an independent contractor or employee for purposes of union organizing, making it harder to properly classify research subjects as independent contractors. The bill passed committee in the Senate in 2023.
“The first Trump Administration tried to modernize the rules on independent contractor status, but not in a fashion that would have made them much easier for research subjects, who don’t fit the conception of a ‘worker’,” Fienberg commented. “The Biden Administration then threw out those rules in favor of yet more new rules, which IA warned could mistakenly classify participants in surveys, focus groups, online panels, and other market research activities as employees of the research companies, regardless of the Labor Department’s intentions.”
As explained by Fienberg, "Research subjects do not seek to share their opinions as a job or as a proxy for employment, but rather because they wish to share their opinions and have an impact on products, services or ideas (and maybe have some fun as well). Research subjects’ participation is completely voluntary and they may opt out at any time."
Fienberg concluded that, “Should the Labor Department reengage with these regulations, we call upon Secretary DeRemer to either harmonize with the common law approach or affirmatively clarify that research subjects receiving incentives are independent contractors.”
The Insights Association has worked for years to ensure that research subjects are not misclassified as employees. Some of the nonprofit trade association’s recent advocacy includes:
(Article updated with vote details following the Senate vote.)
Based in Washington, DC, Howard is the Insights Association's lobbyist for the marketing research and data analytics industry, focusing primarily on consumer privacy and data security, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), tort reform, and the funding and integrity of the decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS).
Howard has more than two decades of public policy experience. Before the Insights Association, he worked in Congress as senior legislative staffer for then-Representatives Christopher Cox (CA-48) and Cliff Stearns (FL-06). He also served more than four years with a science policy think tank, working to improve the understanding of scientific and social research and methodology among journalists and policymakers.
Howard is also co-director of The Census Project, a 900+ member coalition in support of a fair and accurate Census and ACS.
He has also served previously on the Board of Directors for the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics and and the Association of Government Relations Professionals.
Howard has an MA International Relations from the University of Essex in England and a BA Honors Political Studies from Trent University in Canada, and has obtained the Certified Association Executive (CAE), Professional Lobbying Certificate (PLC) and the Public Policy Certificate (PPC).
When not running advocacy for the Insights Association, Howard enjoys hockey, NFL football, sci-fi and horror movies, playing with his dog, and spending time with family and friends.