PRESS RELEASE: HR Policy Association Submits Comments on Joint Employer Rule

The Board’s Proposed Rule is Overly Broad and Improperly Disincentivizes Employers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – HR Policy Association today releases its comments submitted to the National Labor Relations Board regarding its proposed rule for joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. The joint employer doctrine is a particularly consequential area of federal labor and employment law, and any joint employer rule must provide stakeholders a clear understanding of their legal obligations and the extent of potential liability.

HR Policy Association is the leading organization representing chief human resource officers of 400 of the largest employers in the United States. Collectively, their companies provide health care coverage to over 20 million employees and dependents in the United States. Collectively, HR Policy Association member companies employ more than 11 million employees in the United States, over nine percent of the private sector workforce. Since its founding, one of the Association’s principal missions has been to ensure that laws and policies affecting human resources are sound, practical, and responsive to labor and employment issues arising in the workplace.

Unfortunately, the Board’s proposed rule does not succeed in providing this needed clarity and is instead an unprecedently broad expansion of joint employer liability without clearly defined terms and limits. Rather than assisting stakeholders in compliance and promoting collective bargaining, the proposed rule leaves employers and other parties left to merely speculate on whether they are a joint employer.

Further, the proposed rule disincentivizes employers from engaging in corporate social responsibility programs, ESG initiatives, job training programs, safety and health initiatives, and other standards-setting that benefits American workers and the economy as a whole. These types of standards that are established throughout an employer’s supply chain and other aspects of its business are becoming the industry norm, while also being increasingly expected by shareholders and regulators. In its comments, the Association accordingly urges the Board to, at minimum, to establish in its final rule that such minimum standards-setting cannot be the sole basis for establishing joint employer liability.

Finally, HR Policy urges the Board should not move forward with a final rule until the Board has a full complement of five Members with proportionate representation of both Republican and Democrat Members. The Association welcomes the opportunity to continue to engage with the Board to ensure that federal labor policies and regulations promote efficient and competitive workplaces that benefit workers, employers and the U.S. economy.

To read HR Policy Association’s comments to the Board, visit:
 https://www.hrpolicy.org/getmedia/4cde5a28-99ef-4d5a-a0db-d9839e0ea1c2/2022-JE-proposed-rule-comments-HRPA.pdf

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HR Policy Association is the lead organization representing chief human resource officers of major employers. The Association consists of more than 400 of the largest corporations doing business in the United States and globally, and these employers are represented in the organization by their most senior human resource executive. Collectively, their companies employ more than 11 million employees in the United States, over nine percent of the private sector workforce, and 20 million employees worldwide. They have a combined market capitalization of more than $8 trillion. These senior corporate officers participate in the Association because of their commitment to improving the direction of human resource policy. Their objective is to use the combined power of the membership to act as a positive influence
to better public policy, the HR marketplace, and the human resource profession. For more information visit www.hrpolicy.org.