McDonald’s Avoids Joint Liability in Wage Suit at 9th Cir. (2)

McDonald’s Corp. didn’t exercise enough control over a Bay Area franchisee’s workforce to be liable for alleged violations of California wage law, a federal appeals court ruled Oct. 1.

A class of workers at franchises owned by the Haynes Family Limited Partnership failed to show the fast-food giant had control over their hours, wages, or working conditions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. Any direct control McDonald’s exerted related to quality control of the product the franchisee delivered to the public, the court said.

That type of control “is central to modern franchising and to the ...