On Oct. 28, 2015, in a party line vote, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce advanced a bill to overturn the National Labor Relations Board’s Browning-Ferrisdecision. To understand the significance of the bill, it is critical to understand the Browning-Ferris decision and its implications for employers.
On Aug. 27, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board departed from 30 years of NLRB precedent to adopt a broader and looser standard for determining joint-employer status. Under this new standard, a putative employer is no longer required to exercise “direct and immediate” control over workers’ terms and conditions of employment. Now, “indirect” or even “reserved” control is potentially sufficient to establish a joint-employment relationship.
