Recently, we lauded the Department of Labor’s return to the control test of joint employment. Perhaps presciently, we 
wondered whether the NLRB would follow the same course.
The latest turn in the NLRB case involving McDonald’s and the “Fight for $15” group should give us the answer to that question – but not
I admit I was among the scores of franchise lawyers whose blood pressure skyrocketed with passage of California’s AB 5. If a Franchise Agreement establishes an independent contractor relationship between franchisor and franchisee, will the A-B-C test render the franchisor the employer of the franchisee? And if that’s the case, how is the franchisor
The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce recently approved the “Save Local Business Act” (HR 3441 – Byrne). If enacted, the Act would limit joint employer liability by reversing the rule announced by the NLRB in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186. The Browning-Ferris decision departed from 30 years
Trial opened last week before a NLRB Administrative Law Judge in New York regarding the extent of the NLRB’s joint employer doctrine. The trial seeks to have McDonald’s named the joint employer of the employees of its franchisees. Why? The simple answer is that
Browning-Ferris based claims against hotel franchisor Marriott International Incorporated (“Marriott”) will move forward, according to an Illinois federal court. The suit seeks to hold Marriott liable as a joint employer for the actions of its franchisee’s employee–a hotel assistant manager who allegedly coerced housekeepers into sexual “servitude.” Invoking the NLRB’s recent decision in Browning-Ferris Industries
In what many in the industry are likely to see as a commonsense result, a recent advice memorandum issued by the NLRB Office of General Counsel (“OGC”) concluded that franchisor Freshii Development, LLC (“Freshii”) was not a joint employer with its franchisee. Nutritionality, Inc. d/b/a Freshii, Case Nos. 13-CA-134294, 13-CA-138293, and 13-CA-142297 (Apr. 28,
On March 4, 2015, the Tennessee General Assembly introduced SB0475 and HB0757, two bills which, according to the 2015-2016 109th Tennessee General Assembly website, would amend Title 47 and Title 50 of the Tennessee Code and “clarify that neither a franchisee nor a
On December 19, 2014, the NLRB Office of General Counsel issued 13 complaints alleging that McDonald’s and its franchisees violated the rights of employees working for franchisees. Key to these complaints is the opinion of the Office of General Counsel that McDonald’s and its franchisees
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that, according to the International Franchise Association, there has been an increase in the number of complaints filed against franchise systems since the surprising opinion the National Labor Relation Office of General Counsel issued in July that McDonald’s
National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Richard Griffin has come under fire recently for not issuing a memorandum explaining and detailing his rationale for his controversial recommendation this past July that McDonalds could be treated as a joint employer with its franchisees.
While