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In a party line vote, Republicans on the House Committee on
Education and the Workforce unanimously supported a one-sentence
measure to amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish
that joint employment only exists when two or more businesses
share "actual, direct and immediate" control over working
conditions.
In August, the National Labor Relations Board handed down a
decision in Browning-Ferris Industries Inc, which said joint
employment can exist when there is direct, indirect or potential
control over working conditions.
Trade groups have decried the Browning-Ferris decision, claiming
it could upend franchising, supply chains and business models
that depend on contract labor. But some legal experts have
argued those fears are unfounded because the decision is narrow,
adopting a common-law definition of employment already applied
in other contexts.
In one of the first applications of the Browning-Ferris
decision, an NLRB judge on Oct. 21 found that an asbestos
remover in Silver Spring, Maryland does not share control over
employees with the Baltimore-based staffing firm supplying the
workers.
The bill's next step is a vote before the full House of
Representatives before being considered by the Senate. But the
measure is not expected to have enough support to overcome a
presidential veto even if Congress passes it.
(Reporting by Robert Iafolla; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and
Tom Brown)
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