Last week, US House members introduced a bipartisan bill intended to clarify the definition of joint employment. Dubbed the “Save Local Business Act,” the bill amends the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act to stipulate that two or more employers must have “actual, direct, and immediate” control over employees to be considered joint employers.

If passed, the legislation would roll back a 2015 National Labor Relations Board ruling that significantly expanded the definition of joint-employment.

Specifically, the bill adds the following language to the definition of employer:

‘‘A person may be considered a joint employer in relation to an employee only if such person directly, actually, and immediately, and not in a limited and routine manner, exercises significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment (including hiring employees, discharging employees, determining individual employee rates of pay and benefits, day-to-day supervision of employees, assigning individual work schedules, positions, and tasks, and administering employee discipline).’’

“Federal labor policies should be focused on benefiting workers and helping small businesses grow instead of creating barriers that limit opportunity,” said Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), sponsor of the bill and chairman of the chair of the House Education & the Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.

“[The 2015 NLRB ruling] threatens to upend small businesses, undermine their independence, and put jobs and livelihoods at risk, said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. “This bipartisan bill restores a commonsense framework that will provide clarity to small businesses and allow workers and entrepreneurs to freely pursue their dreams.”

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