3 Key Takeaways | Is Franchising Doomed? The 2024 Version
One Month to More Effective Compliance on Business Ventures - Day 19 - Franchisor Compliance
Is Franchising Doomed?
Strategies for Negotiating with a Franchisee and Franchisor
Day 20 of One Month to More Effective Compliance for Business Ventures-Franchisor Liability
On April 8, 2025, the New York State Legislature took up Senate Bill S7289, which, if enacted, would amend the New York Labor Law (NYLL) by adding a new article 35-A, otherwise known as the “New York State Fast Food...more
On May 1, 2025, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Field Assistance Bulletin stepping back from a restrictive independent contractor rule issued under the Biden administration — a...more
On November 9, 2023, a coalition of business advocacy groups led by the US Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas challenging the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”)...more
The FAST Act is in limbo pending the outcome of a California ballot repeal initiative. Undaunted, the Legislature has excised key provisions of that Act and positioned them for separate enactment as AB 1228, introduced by...more
With one day left to spare before the deadline to introduce new bills, on February 16, 2023, California Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-41) introduced Assembly Bill 1228, the “Fast Food Franchisor Responsibility Act.” This...more
On Labor Day, with support from prominent unions, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Recovery Act), which will significantly affect fast-food restaurants in the...more
On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that the test for independent contractor status set forth in the Massachusetts independent contractor statute applies to the...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
A federal court in California certified a class of Matco Tools franchisees who claimed to be misclassified by Matco as independent contractors rather than employees. They claimed Matco did this to avoid obligations owed to...more
Franchisors faced unprecedented challenges in 2020. Enactment of California’s Assembly Bill 5 on January 1, 2020 was just the tip of an iceberg. As the COVID-19 pandemic upended franchise systems across all industries,...more
Download PDF Assembly Bill 5 took effect in California on January 1, 2020 and governs when a business can treat a worker as an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. Under AB5 and its “ABC” test, a hiring entity...more
The Ninth Circuit ruled that a California Matco Tool franchisee, John Fleming, could bring a class action wage and hour suit in California, even though a forum selection clause in the distribution agreement specified Ohio...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5 (“AB-5”). AB-5 codifies into California’s Labor Code the “ABC test” for determining employee or independent contractor status, as adopted by the California...more
In a case that should grab the attention of franchisors across the country, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that McDonald’s Corporation is not the joint employer of the employees of a...more
In an important wage-and-hour decision for franchisors, Salazar, et al. v. the McDonald’s Corp., et al., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that employees of one of the hamburger giant’s California-based franchisees...more
Winter is coming for franchisors in California. Last year, the California Supreme Court decided to hold California businesses liable for the violation of Massachusetts labor statutes when it adopted the ABC test for...more
In 2018, the California Supreme Court adopted the “ABC test” for determining whether workers are independent contractors under California wage orders (the Dynamex decision). For a discussion of that decision....more
Employees of a Merry Maids home cleaning franchise brought a class action against the franchisee, the franchisor, its owner and affiliated entities claiming they were joint employers. A California federal district court...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
Ohio recently amended its definition of “employer” in order to limit the joint employer status of franchisors. Effective March 20, 2019, franchisors will not be considered joint employers with their franchisees unless one of...more
In recent weeks, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has continued to expand his efforts to eradicate the use of no-poach agreements by employers. The targets of his investigation are companies that have included...more