WASHINGTON – Today, Michael Layman, International Franchise Association (IFA) senior vice president of government relations and public affairs, issued the following statement after the effective date of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) expanded joint employer rule was further extended to March 11, 2024, by the judge presiding over the lawsuit pending in the Eastern District of Texas:

“While the temporary reprieve is a positive development for small businesses, Congress still needs to kill joint employer once and for all by passing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the rule. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree that crippling new regulations and an avalanche of new litigation are not what the economy needs right now. We are grateful to the House of Representatives for their swift action passing the CRA in January and will continue working with our bipartisan coalition of supporters to get this resolution through the Senate and over the finish line in short order.”

Co-sponsored by 23 members of the U.S. Senate, the CRA passed the House of Representatives via a bipartisan vote in January 2024. The new joint employer rule expands on a previous joint employer rule that destroyed 376,000 jobs, cost small businesses $33.3 billion, and led to a 93% spike in lawsuits in the franchise sector alone. The rule was originally set to go into effect on Feb. 26, 2024.

A ruling on the pending Motions for Summary Judgment and Motion to Transfer is expected in the coming weeks. Additionally, responses to the IFA-led Motion to Dismiss the D.C. Circuit suit were filed by both the NLRB and SEIU this week. The IFA-led coalition will file its reply by March 19, 2023.

The case is U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. National Labor Relations Board, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 6:23-cv-00553.

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About the International Franchise Association:

Celebrating over 60 years of excellence, education, and advocacy, the International Franchise Association (IFA) 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 approximately 806,270 franchise establishments that support nearly 8.7 million direct jobs, $858.5 billion of economic output for the U.S. economy, and almost 3 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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