by As reported in our October 26, 2023, posting “NLRB Issues New Rule For Deciding When Companies Are Joint Employers”, the National Labor Relations Board changed its standard for determining whether two companies are joint employers over the same group of workers. Within weeks, the new standard generated several legal challenges. As a result, the agency has extended the effective date of the rule to February 26, 2024. The new rule will be applied only to cases filed after the new effective date.
Pending legal actions regarding the joint employer rule include:
- Business groups, including the International Franchise Association, National Retail Federation. and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sued the NLRB on November 9, 2023. Alleging the joint employer rule is unlawful, the groups claim that the new rule 1) is overbroad; 2) improperly changes long-established precedent that limited joint employment to relationships of actual and substantial control; and 3) replaces a clear standard on which companies have relied to structure their business relationships with one that is arbitrary and capricious.
- A Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval has been introduced by both U.S. senators and representatives to overturn the NLRB’s joint employer rule.
