Senate Labor Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Labor's final rule on the joint employer standard:

"The new joint employer rule will help restore to franchise owners--those who are hurt the most by the current patchwork of joint employer standards--the opportunity to make their way into the middle class. The rule gives businesses and workers a clear standard as to whether employees have two different employers, and I commend Secretary Scalia and the Administration for helping solve this problem for the owners of 733,000 franchise locations, including the 17,000 in Tennessee."

Background:

• In January 2016, the Obama Administration released joint employer guidance that broadened its joint employer interpretation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

• In June 2017, the Trump Administration withdrew the Obama Administration guidance that expanded joint employer liability.

• In April 2019, the Trump Administration proposed a rule that establishes a four-factor test for determining joint employer status.

• Currently, there is a patchwork of standards applied by various federal courts and the Labor Department as to whether employees have two different employers.

• The Department of Labor today released a final rule establishing a joint employer test that provides employers and employees with clarity and predictability.

• This test examines whether a supposed joint employer actually exercises the power to hire or fire employees, supervise and control employees' work schedules or employment conditions to a substantial degree, set the employees' rate and method of pay, and maintain the employees' personnel records.