Decoding The NLRB's New Joint Employer Standard

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) made major changes to the concept of joint employers in 2015, culminating in what many felt was a head spinning decision in August, known as Browning-Ferris, setting a new standard for determining if two entities are joint employers. That NLRB decision stepped beyond a review of one business's actual exercise of direct control over another business's employees to consider the mere possession of authority to control the essential terms and conditions of employment of another business's employees. In its first application of this new standard, the NLRB recently determined a construction contractor was not a joint employer with a staffing agency, and in doing so, it offered a first step toward understanding how the Board is likely to apply its new joint employer principles.