Ohio’s New Joint Employer Law Avoids Browning-Ferris Application to Some State Claims

The issue started with the NLRB’s 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186, which overturned 30 years of precedent and established that employers could be held responsible as joint employers by doing as little as reserving control, or exerting indirect control, over workers of another company. This overturned three decades…
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The Difficulty of Managing During Joint Employer Uncertainty

The standard for determining joint employment status has been in a state of near-constant flux for more than 3 years. Both the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Dept. of Labor are interested in settling the joint-employer debate through rule making. What many believe would be smooth sailing could be heading towards rough tides now…
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New Joint Employer Standard on the Horizon

The National Labor Relations Board recently proposed a rule that dictates that two entities will be joint employers only if each exercises substantial direct and immediate control over employees.  The NLRB seeks to establish a stricter joint employer standard by regulation. Doing so would add more permanence to the joint employer standard than interpreting it…
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Browning Ferris: The Short-Lived Tasmanian Devil has Died

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overruled Browning-Ferris Industries and returned to the pre-BFI standard that governed joint employer liability. The BFI decision set forth a broad definition of “joint employer” imposing liability and requiring bargaining in situations where a business posses only potential and indirect control over the employees in question. The BFI test…
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Trump’s NLRB GC will Protect Right to Refrain from Joining Unions

Peter Robb, President Trump’s pick as the next general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, told a Senate panel that he would uphold the “core values” of federal labor law. He said that would include the right to “refrain” from union activity. Robb’s statement indicates he would make it a priority for the Board…
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NLRB Enforces Subpoena about Alleged Joint Employer Relationship with Nothing More than Mere Allegation of Joint Employer Status.

The National Labor Relations Board has denied petitions to revoke subpoenas that were issued by an NLRB Regional Director to two companies seeking information about a possible joint employer relationship between the two employers. You read that right. The two pro-labor NLRB Board Members enforced the subpoenas despite the union’s failure to articulate any facts…
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