Four Federal Rule Changes Small and Mid-Size Businesses Need to Track Before Year-End

Three federal agencies are pushing through final or near-final rules this quarter, and the compliance windows are tighter than most small and mid-size operators realize. The changes touch workplace safety recordkeeping, noncompete agreements, and small business contracting thresholds — areas where the cost of missing a deadline falls entirely on the operator, not the agency.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's updated electronic recordkeeping rule, which took effect January 1, 2024, expanded the list of establishments required to submit injury and illness data through OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. Businesses with 100 or more employees in what OSHA designates high-hazard industries must now submit full 300 and 301 form data annually, not just the 300A summary. The first deadline for that expanded submission was March 2, 2024. Companies that missed it or submitted incomplete records are now facing the compliance review period, and OSHA has signaled it will use the data to target inspection resources. Mid-size manufacturers and warehouse operators who assumed the 300A-only requirement still applied are the most exposed. For more on the topic discussed above, see American Press Report.

The FTC Noncompete Rule and What Courts Have Done to It

The Federal Trade Commission's near-total ban on noncompete agreements, finalized in April 2024, was set to take effect September 4, 2024. A federal judge in the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide block on the rule in August, and as of this writing the rule has not taken effect. The FTC has appealed, but the timeline for resolution is open-ended. That uncertainty matters practically: businesses that restructured employment agreements or sent required notices to workers in anticipation of the rule now have contracts in a legally ambiguous state. Employment counsel's advice is largely consistent — do not assume the rule is dead, and do not assume it is live. Track the Fifth Circuit docket.

Separately, the Small Business Administration finalized updates to its small business size standards earlier this year, revising revenue-based thresholds upward across several NAICS codes to account for inflation. The adjustments, which SBA publishes in its Table of Size Standards, affect whether a company qualifies as a small business for federal contracting purposes. For businesses that were near a threshold, a size reclassification can open or close access to set-aside contracts. SBA completed a comprehensive review of all revenue-based standards in 2022 and has since been issuing updates by sector; operators who have not rechecked their classification under their primary NAICS code since 2022 should do so before submitting bids on federal contracts this quarter.

A fourth item worth noting: the Department of Labor's independent contractor classification rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act took effect March 11, 2024, replacing a 2021 rule with a six-factor economic reality test. Businesses in transportation, construction, and healthcare staffing are most directly affected.

The practical takeaway: pull your primary NAICS code and check the current SBA size threshold before your next federal bid, confirm your OSHA recordkeeping tier, and put a calendar alert on the Fifth Circuit's noncompete ruling. Each of these has a specific action attached to it, not just general awareness.