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Employers warn subcommittee that broad joint‑employer, independent‑contractor standards and student‑employee coverage threaten business models
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Summary
Business and employer representatives told the House subcommittee that NLRB interpretations expanding joint‑employer status, covering graduate students and student athletes as employees, and narrowing independent‑contractor definitions threaten franchises, gig work and other business arrangements.
At the hearing, employer representatives and pro‑business witnesses urged congressional or agency action to reinstate narrower standards for joint‑employer relationships and independent‑contractor status and to limit perceived expansion of NLRB coverage.
Roger King, senior labor and employment counsel at the HR Policy Association, testified that recent NLRB changes — including a broader standard for joint employment and guidance that treated some graduate students and student athletes as employees — disrupted franchise relationships and entrepreneurial work models. "This area of the law has been turned upside down," King said. He called for a return to a "direct and immediate control" standard for joint employment and said the franchise model in particular had been threatened by recent agency initiatives.
King and other witnesses also criticized what they described as agency overreach into sectors and relationships the witnesses said Congress did not intend to cover. Witnesses argued that broad coverage would reduce entrepreneurial opportunities for independent contractors and impose unpredictable liability on franchisors and franchisess.
Supporters of broader coverage countered that workers misclassified as independent contractors or denied collective‑bargaining protections lack statutory remedies and that the NLRA must be interpreted to protect workers who function as employees in practice.
Lawmakers asked witnesses whether statutory changes or clearer board rules are the appropriate remedy. Some members referenced the 2023 NLRB joint‑employer rule and suggested statutory amendments such as the Save Local Business Act to restore a narrower standard.
No formal votes or legislative actions were taken at the hearing; members said they would weigh legislative fixes, oversight or rulemaking to address the contested standards.
