Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Challenge to Create Jobs Under the NLRB’s New Joint Employer Standard (testimony begins at 37:35)

Authors

Harris Freeman, Western New England University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Video

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

Professor Harris Freeman presented testimony in a hearing titled, “Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Challenge to Create Jobs Under the NLRB’s New Joint Employer Standard,” before the United States House Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board announced a revised standard in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc. (BFI) for determining whether two separate businesses are joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act. Since the decision in the BFI case was rendered, the Department of Labor issued guidance on joint employment under two other statutes. Professor Freeman testimony supported: 1) that BFI’s decision is a proper exercise of the Board’s statutory authority and is consistent with Supreme Court precedent; and 2) that the Board’s return to a more inclusive joint-employer standard creates a legal environment that will improve the quality of jobs in the small business sector by providing a voice to workers who are challenging an epidemic of low-road employment practices in large corporate settings and in small businesses where joint employment arrangements are commonplace.

Recommended Citation

Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Challenge to Create Jobs Under the NLRB’s New Joint Employer Standard, Hearing Before the Comm. on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 114th Congress (2016) (statement of Professor Harris Freeman).