{"id":26171,"date":"2022-12-08T10:55:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T15:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=26171"},"modified":"2022-12-08T11:03:10","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T16:03:10","slug":"welcome-bipartisanship-in-senators-letter-to-nlrb-opposing-destructive-proposed-joint-employer-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/26171\/welcome-bipartisanship-in-senators-letter-to-nlrb-opposing-destructive-proposed-joint-employer-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan Senators’ Letter to NLRB Opposes Destructive Proposed “Joint Employer Rule”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many claim to prefer bipartisanship out of leaders in Washington, D.C., and right now we’re witnessing an encouraging example of it.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Senators Mike Braun (R – Indiana), Joe Manchin (D – West Virginia), Angus King (I – Maine), James Lankford (R – Oklahoma), Kyrsten Sinema (D – Arizona), and Susan Collins (R – Maine) have written<\/a> National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman Lauren McFerran seeking reconsideration of the NLRB’s proposed “Joint Employer Rule” that they correctly warn “would have negative effects on workers and businesses during a time that many are already struggling following the COVID-19 pandemic.”<\/p>\n

For years we at CFIF have sounded the alarm<\/a> on the Joint Employer Rule that the Senators target, because it would dangerously reverse decades of established labor law by holding businesses liable and responsible for employees of franchisees whom they didn\u2019t hire and over whom they exercise no control<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Under longstanding court precedent and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) interpretation, an \u2019employer\u2019 for purposes of applying the nation\u2019s labor laws was generally defined to include only those businesses that determined the essential terms and conditions of employment.<\/p>\n

As a textbook illustration, imagine a franchise arrangement whereby the franchisee determines whom to hire, whom to fire, wages and other everyday working conditions.\u00a0 The distant franchisor, in contrast, obviously doesn\u2019t fly every potential franchisee employee in for an interview at corporate headquarters or micromanage its franchisees\u2019 working conditions.<\/p>\n

On that logic, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in NLRB v. Browning-Ferris Industries<\/em> (1982) that the appropriate standard for defining an employer with regard to a particular set of employees was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Boire v. Greyhound Corp.<\/em> (1964).\u00a0 It held that only businesses exercising control over \u2018those matters governing the essential terms and conditions of employment\u2019 were subject to collective bargaining requirements and liabilities.<\/p>\n

Two years later, the NLRB formally adopted that standard, ruling in separate cases that \u2018there must be a showing that the employer meaningfully affects matters relating to the employment such as hiring, firing, discipline, supervision and direction.\u2019\u00a0 In other words, an \u2019employer\u2019 for purposes of labor law mandates required direct and immediate control over the terms and conditions of employment.<\/p>\n

That stands to reason, since it makes no sense to impose legal liability upon employers that don\u2019t actually control a bargaining unit\u2019s employment conditions.<\/p>\n

In August 2015, however, Obama\u2019s NLRB suddenly and needlessly upended that established legal standard by redefining what\u2019s known as the \u2018Joint Employer Doctrine.\u2019\u00a0 Essentially, the Joint Employer Doctrine now allows multiple businesses to be held legally liable for the same set of employees.<\/p>\n

Thus, in the infinite wisdom of the Obama NLRB, even employers with indirect or even merely potential ability to affect employment terms could suddenly find themselves subject to federal labor laws.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In their letter, the Senators highlight the potential harm of the proposed rule.\u00a0 They note that in the United States, nearly 775,000 franchises employ 8.2 million workers and provide $800 billion of economic output, which is projected to grow in 2022 to nearly 800,000 franchises.\u00a0\u00a0 As they further note, the International Franchise Association (IFA) found that the proposed rule could \u201ccost franchise businesses $33.3 billion per year, resulting in 376,000 lost job opportunities, and led to a 93% increase in lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

These Senators demonstrate welcome bipartisan leadership, and Americans should contact their Senators to make their support clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many claim to prefer bipartisanship out of leaders in Washington, D.C., and right now we’re witnessing an encouraging example of it. Specifically, Senators Mike Braun (R – Indiana), Joe Manchin (D – West Virginia), Angus King (I – Maine), James Lankford (R – Oklahoma), Kyrsten Sinema (D – Arizona), and Susan Collins (R – Maine) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2132,5193,27,5192,832,833,419],"class_list":["post-26171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-employment","tag-franchise","tag-jobs","tag-joint-employer-rule","tag-national-labor-relations-board","tag-nlrb","tag-unions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26173,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26171\/revisions\/26173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}