Senate Holds Hearing on Joint Employer Standard

On Thursday, February 5, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing titled Who’s the Boss? The "Joint Employer" Standard and Business Ownership. The hearing focused on recent decisions from NLRB General Counsel Robert Griffin’s assertions in July that the joint employer standard should be changed to a much broader definition and his decision to hold McDonald's Corporation as a joint employer with dozens of franchise owners across the country for labor law violations. Watch the hearing here.

While the current NLRB actions and the hearing were focused on how this would change the relationship between franchisers and franchisees, the implications for other industries, such as construction, are huge. If the NLRB uses a new joint employer standard in its decision in the Browning-Ferris case it is expected to decide shortly, this could have a dramatic impact on what it means to be an employer and an employee. Browning-Ferris involves a subcontractor/contractor relationship at a recycling facility. A new joint employer standard could mean that many contracting companies could find themselves designated as joint employers of their sub-contractors' employees. Watch the hearing .

Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has vowed to exercise oversight of the NLRB. He, along with House Chairman John Kline, have announced their intent to use the Congressional Review Act to try and stop the NLRB’s new Ambush Election rule. NRMCA is a member of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the US Chamber of Commerce which have each recently filed suit against this rule.