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NMHC/NAA joined with a number of employer and business trade associations this week in sending a coalition letter to Congressional leaders imploring them to pass legislation to overturn the National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) joint employer rule.
Specifically, the coalition called on Congress to support H.R. 3441, the Save Local Business Act, which would rectify the NLRB rule by restoring the requirement that employers must have direct and immediate control over the essential terms and conditions of employment. Apartment firms should not be liable for fines resulting from employees of suppliers who violate Federal labor laws.
NMHC/NAA have long supported overturning the joint employer rule. In early October, the multifamily industry sent a letter of support to the House Education and the Workforce Committee supporting the Save Local Business Act. The Committee approved the legislation on October 4 and sent it to the full House for consideration.
In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in its Browning-Ferris Industries of California decision significantly expanded the definition of joint employer. This decision potentially made apartment firms liable for the actions of their subcontractors, suppliers, vendors and temporary staff.
Joint employer scenarios occur when the supervision of an employee’s activity is shared between two or more businesses. The NLRB ruled that it could impose joint employer liability when an entity has “indirect” control and “unexercised potential” of control over another entity’s employees. This is a significant change from three decades of business practices where entities were designated joint employers when both had “direct and immediate” control over “essential terms and conditions of employment.”
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