Nation's Restaurant News: NLRB decision again puts joint-employer definition into question

A controversial 2015 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has come back into consideration due to a conflict of interest by NLRB member William Emanuel. According to Nation's Restaurant News, the ruling threatened to define franchisors as joint employers of workers hired by franchisees and was disputed by both franchisors and franchisees.

Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) labor policy expert Trey Kovacs said in a statement, “The NLRB’s decision to vacate its own recent ruling on joint-employer liability now puts greater pressure on the Senate to pass the Save Local Business Act. This turn of events illustrates how no decision by the Board is permanent and why it is crucial for Congress to set a standard into law instead of letting regulators decide. Without a permanent legislative fix, the overly broad and vague Obama-era Browning-Ferris joint-employer standard is once again a threat to entrepreneurs and workers worldwide.”

Emanuel's exact conflict was not released. The 2015 ruling previously overturned the Browning-Ferris decision.