Las Vegas, NV – Several Las Vegas area local business owners and representatives met with Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) to express their concerns with recent and pending actions of the National Labor Relations Board that would significantly expand the definition of joint employer. Should that occur, it would alter the employer-employee relationship and undermine local business owners’ control over their own business.
“We appreciate Sen. Heller’s availability to meet with us to discuss the challenges that local business owners across Nevada would face should the NLRB upend the well-established definition of joint employer. To me, at best it would mean less control over my business; at worst it could mean being forced to close my shop, layoff my employees, and less economic activity in my community,” said John Noellert, owner of FASTSIGNS locations in Reno and Carson City.
Expanding the joint employer definition would upend decades of established law and expand franchisor responsibilities making them more liable for franchisees’ actions. Ultimately, this would lead to consolidation among the franchisors and force local franchise business owners to lose autonomy over their stores – or worse, it would force them out of business altogether.
“The franchise business model has allowed me to grow my business exponentially and provide entrepreneurial opportunities for my local franchisees,” said Debra Shwetz co- founder of Las Vegas based Nothing Bundt Cakes. “Locally based Nothing Bundt Cakes shops employ approximately 1,200 people in 25 states. If the NLRB expands the joint employer definition, I’m concerned for our system and all of the local businesses our franchisees have built.”
In addition to the negative impact on the franchise sector, expanding the definition of joint employer would have wide-ranging negative implications on other businesses throughout the country as well. The NLRB is currently considering the Browning-Ferris case, which would impact the employer-employee relationship for thousands of companies that rely on contractors and sub-contractors for specialized support. As large companies react to this increased liability, they would, undoubtedly, consolidate many of the activities that they currently subcontract. This would lead to many local business owners losing their investments, workers losing their jobs and communities losing vital sources of economic activity.
The Coalition to Save Local Businesses is led by more than a dozen co-chairs from all over the country and is supported by a growing number of local business owners, concerned citizens and trade associations and their members. Members of the Coalition are urging Congress to codify the current definition of joint employer. To learn more about the coalition visit the website, www.SaveLocalBusinesses.com.
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The Coalition to Save Local Businesses represents thousands of local businesses and millions of American jobs through its membership and partner organizations. The coalition’s goal is to inform Members of Congress and others about the negative consequences decisions by the National Labor Relations Board to expand the definition of who can be held as a joint employer would have on local businesses and their employees across the country. The coalition is asking Congress to support legislation that would make permanent the long-standing and widely accepted definition of joint employer.