NLRB Proposes Reversal of Joint Employer Ruling

(Sept. 2018) In mid-September, the National Relations Labor Board (NLRB) proposed a rule to reverse the Obama administration’s 2015 Browning-Ferris decision that redefined joint employer standard. Under this decision, an employer can be determined to be jointly responsible for the terms and conditions of employment over the same group of employees even when they exercise indirect or simply unexercised potential control. This exposes almost every contractual relationship to unwarranted liability, and is particularly damaging to the franchise relationship. The previous long standing labor law required that an employer have direct and immediate control over the essential terms and conditions of employment to be held liable for those employees.