Businesses Fire Opening Salvo in Joint Employer Debate

Prominent business groups formally asked the federal labor board to take a more limited approach to joint employer liability for multiple companies.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, International Franchise Association, and National Federation of Independent Business are among the groups that signed the June 13 petition, filed with the National Labor Relations Board. It comes as the NLRB works on a proposed regulation to determine when one business is the “joint employer” of another’s workers for unionization and other purposes. A proposed rule is planned for this summer.

The groups asked the board to require a business to have ...