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www.asianhospitality.com
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2024 ASIAN HOSPITALITY
orces are aligning to push back
against the National Labor
Relations Board’s recently issued
final ruling on the definition of joint-
employer status. The American Hotel
& Lodging Association has filed a
lawsuit against President Biden’s
administration to reverse the ruling and
a bipartisan group of House and Senate
lawmakers have proposed a resolution
to overturn it.
Opponents to the ruling, issued Oct.
26, say it could damage the current
franchise business model. The new
standard defines a joint employer
to be any company that shares or
codetermines one or more essential
terms and conditions of employment.
Those include:
Wages, benefits, and other
compensation.
Hours of work and scheduling.
The assignment of duties to be
performed.
The supervision of the performance of
duties.
Work rules and directions governing
the manner, means, and methods of the
performance of duties and the grounds
for discipline.
The tenure of employment, including
hiring and discharge.
Working conditions related to the
safety and health of employees.
The final rule rescinds the 2020 rule
that was promulgated by the prior
board and applies the new definition
of joint employer to any entity that
can control the essential terms of
employment whether or not such
control is exercised and without regard
to whether any such exercise of control
is direct or indirect.
Taking it to court
In November, AHLA along with the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other
plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District
of Texas challenging the legality of the
NLRB definition of joint-employer.
The change will make hotel
franchisers, who traditionally have
no control over their franchisees’
employees, liable for workplace policies,
AHLA said in a statement, and would
force unions on hotel franchisees and
their employees.
“The NLRB’s joint-employer regulation
is all about coercing businesses to the
bargaining table with workers they
do not actually employ to increase
unionization. To achieve this, the NLRB
is intentionally taking a wrecking ball to
one of America’s great economic engines
– the franchise model – and jeopardizing
millions of small-business jobs,” said
Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO.
“The goal of this lawsuit is to reestablish
the rule of law that has governed joint-
employment designation for nearly
four decades. It will also prevent the
destruction of the franchise business
model that has provided prosperity for
tens of thousands of American small
business hoteliers.”
The legislative approach
AHLA also supports a Congressional
Review Act resolution introduced in
Congress by several, mostly Republican
representatives and Senators in the
House Education and the Workforce
Committee opposing the NLRb ruling.
The resolution’s sponsors say the new
joint-employer definition is a threat to
small businesses, including hotels.
“The franchise system has been a
vital driver of entrepreneurship and
economic growth across the country,
however, the Biden Administration
has once again failed to prioritize
America’s best interests by inflicting
more regulations and red tape on our
small businesses,” said Sen. Joe Manchin
of West Virginia, the only Democrat
among the resolution’s sponsors. “I urge
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
to join this commonsense resolution to
remove this impediment to the American
Dream.”
The resolution’s other co-sponsors are
Reps. John James of Michigan; Virginia
Foxx of North Carlina who chairs the
committee; and recently elected Speaker
of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
Sponsors on the Senate side along with
Manchin include Sens. Bill Cassidy
of Louisiana and Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky, Senate minority leader.
AHLA’s Rogers issued a separate
statement supporting the resolution.
“AHLA welcomes this Congressional
Review Act resolution to overturn the
NLRB’s disastrous joint-employer rule,”
Rogers said. “The NLRB is intentionally
taking a wrecking ball to one of
America’s great economic engines – the
franchise model – and jeopardizing
millions of small business jobs.”
AHLA, others sue Biden administration
over NLRB joint-employer definition
Also, a group of mostly Republican Congress members have introduced a resolution to
overturn the recent ruling
The American Hotel &
Lodging Association
has filed a lawsuit
against President
Biden’s administration
to reverse the National
Labor Relations Board’s
recently issued final
ruling on the definition
of joint-employer status.
Also, a group of House
and Senate lawmakers
have proposed a
resolution to overturn it.