NLRB Broadens Its Test For Determining Joint-Employer Status

On August 27, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") issued its highly anticipated decision in Browning-Ferris Indus. of California, et al. v. Sanitary Truck Drivers, 362 NLRB No. 186. In deciding to "revisit and revise" its joint-employer standard, the NLRB held in a 3-2 decision that Browning Ferris (BFI) was a joint employer of workers provided by a staffing agency at a BFI recycling plant. BFI owns and operates a recycling facility and employs approximately 60 employees who work outside of the facility to move materials and prepare them to be sorted inside the facility. These BFI employees are represented by a union. BFI contracts with Leadpoint to supply the workers who sort garbage and recyclable materials inside the facility. BFI and Leadpoint both employ supervisors who direct the work of their respective employees. Although BFI establishes the work process and sets the plant's working hours, Leadpoint conducts the hiring, firing, and payroll of the