On March 2, 2016, Wisconsin Senate Bill 422 was signed into law. This bill clarifies that a franchisor is not the employer of a franchisee’s employees under several areas of Wisconsin law: unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, Wisconsin’s wage and hour laws and Wisconsin’s fair employment laws. Employer liability will attach to a franchisor as it … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has weighed in on the joint employer issue, releasing an Administrator’s Interpretation (“AI”) setting forth the DOL’s position as it relates to joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. The joint employment concept under the FLSA is not new … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) Region Five Director (located in Baltimore) was recently asked to decide whether an environmental remediation contractor was a joint employer with its employee staffing firm, in the Green JobWorks LLC case. This is the first time that a Regional Director has looked at the joint employer … Continue Reading
Hearings recently opened in the National Labor Relation Board’s controversial case accusing McDonald’s and its franchisees of anti-union activity under a joint-employer theory. Those consolidated hearings are set to occur in three locations, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, with the trial portion likely to start in mid May 2015. The case is being closely … Continue Reading
The 2015 International Franchise Association Conference recently held in Las Vegas served as a reminder of the growing issues with organized labor in the franchise industry. In particular, the traditional roles of franchisors and franchisees are being challenged by labor unions alleging franchisors and their franchisees are violating the rights of the franchisee’s employees. The arguments are … Continue Reading
