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The International Franchise Association (IFA) praised the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) proposed rulemaking providing a federal, nationwide joint-employer standard to ensure employees and employers have a clear understanding of joint employer status.
"The Trump Administration's joint-employer rule provides a clear and commonsense approach for America's 832,000 franchised businesses to operate and grow," said Matt Haller, IFA president and CEO. "This pro-franchise standard protects the independence of franchise small businesses, safeguards the equity franchisees have built in their local operations, and prevents the kind of regulatory overreach that has threatened jobs and growth in previous administrations. On behalf of the entire franchise community, we commend the Trump Administration and Acting DOL Secretary Keith Sonderling for delivering this win that will unleash opportunity and upward mobility and strengthen the franchise model as a cornerstone of the American economy."
To safeguard this commonsense joint-employer standard for the long-term, IFA is spearheading the bipartisan American Franchise Act (AFA) codifying the direct control of narrowly defined essential terms and conditions of employment for joint-employer status. This legislation would ensure that future administrations are prevented from implementing an expanded, harmful standard and make sure that franchises have certainty to operate.
The AFA has 116 bipartisan cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and companion legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.