黑料不打烊 of America joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others in a business coalition challenging the National Labor Relations Board鈥檚 (NLRB) new joint employer rule. The suit makes clear that the agency exceeded its authority to issue this rule under the National Labor Relations Act and acted in arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.
The new rule unlawfully makes it easier for the agency to declare that a company is the joint employer of another company鈥檚 workers. It establishes an arbitrary and uncertain standard that threatens chaos and indeterminacy in business and labor relations across major industry sectors, including construction.
The implications of joint-employer status are considerable, particularly given traditional practices in contractor-subcontractor relationships. If a general contractor is deemed to be the joint employer of a subcontractor鈥檚 employees, it could be:
- forced to respond to the union-organizing campaigns of the subcontractor鈥檚 employees;
- pulled into disputes between the subcontractor and a union, without protections from secondary boycotts鈥攍ike reserved gates鈥攏ormally accorded to neutral third parties; and
- held jointly responsible for unfair labor practices conducted by the subcontractor.
鈥淭he reservation and exercise of some control by one construction company over another is inherent in the industry,鈥 explained Denise Gold, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Corporate and Labor Senior Counsel. 鈥淎 contractor should be able to use and direct subcontractors without taking on joint-employer status as long as the contractor isn鈥檛 directly and substantially controlling essential employment matters of the subcontractors鈥 workers so as to be acting like those workers鈥 employer itself.鈥
The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. 黑料不打烊 will provide updates on significant developments as they occur.
For more information, contact Denise Gold at denise.gold@agc.org.