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ALEXANDRIA, VA — Today, U.S. Representatives Virginia Foxx (R - North Carolina), Bradley Byrne (R - Alabama), Henry Cuellar (D - Texas) and Tim Walberg (R - Michigan) introduced important bipartisan legislation entitled the Save Local Business Act (H.R. 3441), updating the National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act to clarify the definition of "joint employer" for purposes of federal labor law.
The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) supports swift passage of the legislation. The following statement should be attributed to Timothy Lee, CFIF's Senior Vice President of Legal and Public Affairs:
"CFIF applauds this much-needed legislation, which reverses one of the most egregious abuses of the previous administration's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
"For decades, federal labor law applied a fair, consistent and common-sense standard in determining when an employer could be held liable for alleged violations of employees' legal rights. Until 2015, only those companies that exercised direct, actual and immediate control over employees and workplaces could rightfully be held accountable for legal violations. But late in his tenure as Labor Secretary during the Obama Administration, Tom Perez upended decades of established law by asserting that even companies exercising vague and ambiguous 'indirect control' of other companies' employees could be sued as so-called 'joint employers.'
"That politicized and indefensible reversal introduced needless uncertainty into the nation's employment environment, particularly for the nearly 750,000 franchise owners who account for millions of American jobs. It is unfair and illogical to subject businesses to potential liability from employees over whom they exercise no control in hiring, supervision, wages or working condition decisions. It's important that Congress resolve the issue once and for all with clear, unambiguous legislation.
"CFIF therefore strongly supports this legislation, and stands ready to help ensure its quick passage."
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