National Labor Relations Board Joint Employer Rule Is Gone For Now

As HR Dive reported last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has voluntarily dismissed its appeal of a Texas federal judge’s decision suspending implementation of the NLRB’s joint employer final rule. The NLRB’s decision means that, for now, the regulation is dead.

As Connecting the Dots reported back in May, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker agreed with challengers to rule, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who had argued regulation is too broad and violates federal labor law. The NLRB originally intended to appeal that decision. In its statement, NLRB said it would “like the opportunity to further consider the issues identified in the district court’s opinion” and that dismissal would “allow it to consider options for addressing the outstanding joint employer matters before it.” The board also said it “remains of the opinion” of the NLRB that the joint employer rule is lawful.

As a reminder, the NLRB’s joint employer regulation, which would have replaced a 2020 Trump administration rule, sought to greatly expand joint employer status under the National Labor Relation Act by stating that either possessing the authority to control one or more essential terms and conditions of employment (regardless of whether control is exercised), or exercising the power to control indirectly one or more essential terms and conditions of employment (regardless of whether the power is exercised directly), is sufficient to qualify an organization as a joint employer.