Say the franchisee of a fast food restaurant chain forgot to give workers raises when New Jersey’s minimum wage went up to $10 an hour on July 1. For the franchisee, there would be restitution and probably fines.
But what about the fast food corporation? It depends on whether or not they are a joint employer, and that is a question whose answer keeps changing.
Recently writer Rosie Bradbury at HRDive.com took a look at where joint employment law stands under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
“Joint employment may occur when control of the terms and conditions of employment is shared between more than one entity, but it is a complicated area and specific employment laws affect how, exactly, it works,” she writes. “Under the FLSA, for example, multiple employers found to be at fault in a wage or labor violation can trigger joint and several liability….”
