Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

We have written on several occasions in this space about the NLRB’s controversial new joint employer standard and the damaging impact it may have on business-to-business relationships in the United States.  This morning, Labor & Employment partner Kurt Larkin testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations in a hearing on the negative effects the new standard may have on small business.  The House is currently considering an amendment to the National Labor Relations Act that would return the joint employer standard to the “direct and immediate control” test that existed for over 30 years before last summer’s Browning-Ferris decision.  Mr. Larkin argued in favor of the amendment, and told the Subcommittee that the uncertainty over the Board’s new test – which allows for a joint employer finding where an employer merely retains control over employment terms, or exercises only indirect control – is already causing businesses to reconsider their outsourcing, franchising and subcontracting relationships in a variety of contexts.