Labor Regulators Back Reopening McDonald’s Joint Employer Case

California labor regulators gave McDonald’s franchise restaurant workers a boost in their bid to revive their lawsuit alleging the fast food giant is jointly liable for violations of state wage law.

The California Supreme Court should get a chance to “offer definitive answers” to legal issues that a federal appeals court decided when it threw out the class action against McDonald’s Corp., the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit got at least one of those issues wrong in its ruling, the agency said.

Should the Ninth Circuit reopen the case, it...