FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Jenna Weisbord, 310-995-0839
jweisbord@franchise.org
@franchising411

(WASHINGTON, OCT. 17) – The International Franchise Association (IFA), the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchise businesses, today praised the Department of Labor’s (DOL) announcement that it intends to pursue rulemaking on the joint employer standard as part of its regulatory agenda this year.

“We applaud the Department of Labor for taking an important step to provide certainty for America’s more than 730,000 franchise businesses. The current joint employer uncertainty creates a confusing and costly legal environment for these small businesses, which can hold back growth and limit economic opportunity. Moving toward clear, historically-understood standards will benefit these independently-owned businesses, their employees, and the American economy,” said Matt Haller, IFA Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs.

IFA has led efforts to advance a DOL joint employer rulemaking under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In October, dozens of Members of Congress and Senators wrote to the DOL to urge the department to promulgate a joint employer rule along with historically-accepted standards. This follows the IFA annual fly-in in September, where more than 400 franchise business leaders encouraged Congress to push the DOL toward this rulemaking.

Additionally, Reps. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in August called for a DOL rulemaking.

America’s 733,000 franchise businesses employ nearly 8 million people and contribute $404 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product.

About the International Franchise Association

Celebrating 56 years of excellence, education, and advocacy, the International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising and the more than 733,000 franchise establishments that support nearly 7.6 million direct jobs, $674.3 billion of economic output for the U.S. economy and 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees, and companies that support the industry in marketing, law, technology and business development.

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