One of the biggest unresolved labor issues facing employers in the new year is how federal regulators will determine the scope of “joint employment” business relationships, circumstances where one company can be held responsible for the workers of another, the National Law Journal reported. Joint-employer disputes have kicked up significant litigation, fueled federal legislative proposals, and driven a sharp wedge between management-side lawyers and attorneys for workers’ rights. The issues touch on who’s responsible for contract workers and employees of franchises. And the landscape potentially just got a lot muddier. A divided federal appeals court in Washington issued a ruling Friday in the case Browning-Ferris Industries v. National Labor Relations Board that said the Obama-era board’s expanded, worker-friendly standard wasn’t unlawful. Judges Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins delivered a win for employees, but it comes as the Trump administration’s new leaders at the board are aiming to undo the current rules and enforce a more business-friendly approach. The dissenting judge said the court should have waited for the NLRB to finish its administrative process.
