National Labor Relations Board Favors Fast-Food Unionizing Efforts in a 3-to-2 Ruling

At the end of the summer, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) came down with a game-changing decision that affected fast-food chains and related companies dealing with contractors and franchisees. The decision heavily favored unions because it changed the meaning of an employer-employee relationship by including a staff contractor—a person hired to staff the parent company’s facilities—within the concept of a joint employer. Therefore, because a staff contractor is employed by the parent company, a union is legally entitled to bargain directly with the parent company, bypassing any bargaining relationship with the staff contractor at that specific facility. Previously, employees in this line of work rarely succeeded in union organizing, which, in some degree, was due primarily to their weak negotiating leverage against franchisees and staff contractors. Now, however, the Board significantly made union representation easier through an “indirect test” that establishes a greater number of bargaining relationships through an “ever-widening circle of employers.” For example, if fast-food employees at a particular restaurant choose to become unionized, this decision gives union representatives the opportunity to negotiate not just with the franchisee or contractor of that particular restaurant, but also with the corporate headquarters. For more information on this decision and how it may impact companies beyond fast-food restaurants, check out this article from The New York Times!