3 Key Takeaways | Is Franchising Doomed? The 2024 Version
Is Franchising Doomed?
II-27 - Our 1st Anniversary Special: Bringing Back Our Inaugural Guest to Discuss What Was and What Will Still Be With President Trump
Employment Law This Week: Break Pay, Misclassification of Franchisees, California Computer Professional Exemption, Non-Compete Payment
Legislation is moving through Congress that, if enacted, would establish a new joint employer standard and end some of the uncertainty businesses have faced the past several years whenever a new party won the White House. ...more
In the same month that 7-Eleven prevailed in a federal court trial where convenience store franchisees claimed they were not independent contractors but rather employees entitled to the protections of state labor laws, a...more
On July 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor announced it is rescinding a final rule issued just last year (2020 Final Rule) that sought to clarify the standard for finding two separate entities to be “joint employers”...more
For generations of small business owners franchising serves as a successful business model. Under this paradigm a franchisor grants a franchisee a license to use the franchisor’s trademark and business concept in exchange for...more
On February 26, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (the NLRB) issued its final rule governing joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act (the NLRA). The final rule replaces the Obama administration’s...more
Summary - This week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB/Board) issued a new rule effectively overturning an Obama-era precedent on joint-employer status and making it harder to show that two companies were joint...more
This week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB/Board) issued a new rule effectively overturning an Obamaera precedent on joint employer status and making it harder to show that two companies are joint employers. In doing...more
Individual Examination into Effect of Alleged False "No Artificial Flavors" Label Necessary - In Marotto v. Kellogg Co., No. 18 Civ 3545, 2019 WL 6798290 (S.D. N.Y. Dec. 5, 2019), the court declined to certify a putative...more
A significant amount of legal activity has taken place recently in the area of joint employment. Joint employment exists when more than one entity is deemed to be a worker’s employer. Typically, a direct employer and a...more
In 2014, David Weil assumed the reins at the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour division. Dr. Weil, an economic scholar, set his sights on the concept of joint employment. In academia, his work focused on what he termed a...more
On January 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its highly anticipated Final Rule regarding joint employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Final Rule was published in the Federal...more
On January 12, 2020 the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule revising its regulations on joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new rule provides guidance for determining joint employer...more
Sunday’s release of a long-awaited Labor Department final rule on joint employment spells trouble for workers hoping to “sue large companies for wrongdoing by contractors or franchisees.” The rule reverses Obama-era policies...more
When do your business relationships make you a joint employer? Fortunately, the DOL recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with changes to regulations regarding when two or more entities should be treated as...more
Professional Employer Organizations, franchisors, business advisors, and staffing agencies should take a close look at their contracts if the Department of Labor’s proposed new standard for what constitutes a joint employer...more
Hoping to clarify when entities should be treated as “joint employers” under the FLSA, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently announced its intent to revise its so-called “joint employer” regulations under the Fair Labor...more
One need only glance at the court cases we report on below to understand why some businesses choose to settle independent contractor misclassification cases. Three of these cases highlight the unpredictable approaches...more
I attended the International Franchise Association’s Franchise Action Network (“FAN”) Annual Meeting last week in Washington D. C. Basically, this is an educational event culminating in the participants being sent out to the...more
Labor and Employment - Jimmy John's Avoids Joint-Employer Finding in Worker Overtime Litigation - In In re: Jimmy John's Overtime Litigation, 2018 WL 3231273 (N.D. Ill. June 14, 2018), a federal district court ruled that...more
Fast food enterprises are frequent targets for claimed wage and hour violations. Because in many instances the places where the plaintiff worked is actually a franchise, the scope of a claim or proposed class may be limited...more
In October 2017, four franchisees filed a federal complaint against the global convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, seeking to represent a purported class of over 1,000 similarly situated 7-Eleven franchisees in California. The...more
• A recent National Labor Relations Board decision unexpectedly reversed a controversial Labor Board ruling issued during the Obama administration that had dramatically expanded the joint-employer doctrine and made companies...more
Our news update for last month highlights the fact that IC misclassification lawsuits are happening across the country and in virtually every industry, both in the on-demand economy and in more traditional business sectors....more
As government agencies steadily expand the concept of joint employment, franchisors increasingly find themselves in a difficult position. Since August 2015, when the NLRB ruled in Browning-Ferris that entities with the...more
On July 26, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division entered into a “Voluntary Agreement” with the franchisor of the Subway brand, known as Doctor’s Associates, Inc., and its affiliates. The agreement...more