Bipartisan Letter Calls for Delay in Joint Employer Rule

A bipartisan pair of Senators are asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to delay implementation of Biden’s harmful joint employer rule which is set to take effect this month.

The letter signed by Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) asks NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran for “a further delay in the implementation of the [NLRB’s] final rule on Joint Employer Status, currently scheduled to take effect on February 26, 2024.” The legislators cite the rule’s “significant impact on small businesses, contractors, and franchisees… as well as continued Congressional and legal concerns” as factors that warrant a delay.

The Biden NLRB’s final rule published in October 2023 broadly expanded the traditional understanding of the joint employer standard, increasing liability for businesses and ensuring wide-sweeping economic harm. The new rule asserts that businesses can be held as joint employers on the basis of “indirect control,” or even on the basis of theoretical control which has never been exercised, which is a significant shift from the traditional framework.

When a similarly expansive rule was issued in 2015, studies indicated that franchise businesses could have seen billions of dollars in losses and hundreds of thousands of lost job opportunities for their workers. Moreover, the costs of the new rule, which could be even higher than under the 2015 standard, will pass through to consumers in the form of higher prices

A resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) passed the House of Representatives last month with eight Democrats joining all Republicans in voting “yes.” A similar resolution in the Senate was introduced by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and currently has 44 bipartisan cosponsors.

In addition to these congressional actions, the letter from Sens. Braun and Manchin cites two ongoing lawsuits challenging the rule, which are still pending in federal court. The senators also note that the NLRB’s rule was previously found to be “out of compliance with the CRA” and that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) determined that NLRB has “not adequately resolved the confusion caused to those impacted businesses and employees.”

The NLRB must protect the interests of everyday Americans and their elected representatives by delaying implementation of their devastating joint employer rule. Bureaucrats rushing forward with a deadline of February 26th would mean ignoring two coequal branches of government and causing undue harm to countless Americans.