One Job, Many Bosses: Joint Employers and Labor Law, Explained

Franchise companies and businesses that rely on outsourced labor are keeping a close eye on the National Labor Relations Board’s proposal to broaden its legal test for determining whether one company jointly employs another’s workers.

The Democratic majority of the five-member NLRB issued a plan this week that would expand what factors can trigger a joint-employer finding beyond one business exerting direct and immediate control over another company’s employees. The new test would also take into account indirect and unexercised control.

The proposed rule would eliminate the stricter joint employment standard that an all-Republican NLRB issued in 2020. The two ...