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September 21, 2015

Miss NAM’s Summary Of NLRB Joint Employer Standard? Watch It Online Now

In early September, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) held an online briefing on the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recent decision to alter its definition of “joint employer.” If you missed that briefing, you can listen to the archived webcast on NAM’s website. The presentation used in the webinar is available here while NAM’s summary of the NLRB ruling is available here

MSCI encourages all of its members to read and study these resources in order to learn how the NLRB’s ruling will affect the manufacturing industry. 

As a reminder, on August 27, 2015, a divided NLRB ruled 3-2 that Browning-Ferris Industries was the “joint employer” of workers supplied by a third-party. The ruling rejected more than 30 years of precedent and held that joint employer status would not be found unless the alleged joint employer actually exercised direct control over the employees’ terms and conditions of employment. As NAM has said, this change fundamentally alters the law applicable to many business-to-business relationships. For example, while the decision dealt only with a facility owner and a staffing agency, the majority opinion says all of its new “control factors” will have to be examined on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, the ruling has significant ramifications for the franchisees, temporary staffing, and contracting business models. 

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has introduced legislation in the Senate and Rep. John Kline (R-MN) has introduced legislation in the House that would roll back the NLRB’s new standard. Stay tuned to Connecting the Dots as these bills, which you can read about here and which MSCI will actively support, move forward.  

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