November 14, 2023
Dear Member of Congress,
Small business needs protection. As you are aware, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
issued their final rule “Standard for Determining Joint Employer Status” on October 27, 2023.
Through this rule the NLRB rejected the traditional understanding of the joint employer
standard. The result will be direct harm to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and their employees.
However, a bipartisan legislative effort to nullify the rule using congressional power under the
Congressional Review Act (CRA) is underway. This effort is led by Senator Bill Cassidy
(R-La.),2 Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and Congressman John James (R-Mich.),3 and it aims
to protect American small businesses, workers, and consumers from this harmful bureaucratic
action.
Longstanding precedent has held that two businesses should only be held as jointly responsible
for the same set of employees if they both exert direct and immediate control over key aspects of
employment. This framework allowed business models like franchising and temporary work
arrangements to thrive, creating jobs, boosting economic productivity, and enabling many
Americans to become first-time small business owners.
The new rule issued by NLRB, however, puts these benefits in jeopardy by forcing businesses to
be held as joint employers on the basis of “indirect control,” or even on the basis of theoretical
control which has never been exercised. Studies analyzing a similarly expansive rule from 2015
indicate that franchise businesses could have seen billions of dollars in economic losses and
hundreds of thousands of lost job opportunities as a result of the rule.
In an economic environment already destabilized by inflation and overregulation, America’s
small businesses cannot afford for the NLRB to push forward with more costly mandates.
As the branch of government most representative of and responsive to the people, Congress is
tasked with protecting Americans from bureaucratic overreach and the economic devastation that
may accompany it. We hope you will think about small businesses and what is best for their
employees when considering the joint resolution of disapproval to reverse the NLRB’s overreach
on the joint employer standard.
Signed,
Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform
Phil Kerpen
President, American Commitment
Richard Manning
President, Americans for Limited Government
Ryan Ellis
President, Center for a Free Economy
Russ Brown
President, Center for Independent Employees
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President, 60 Plus Association
Steve Pociask
President and CEO, American Consumer Institute
Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer, Americans for Prosperity
Daniel J. Mitchell
President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Timothy Lee
Senior VP of Legal and Public Affairs, Center for Individual Freedom
David McIntosh
President, Club for Growth
Tom Schatz
President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Brian Minnich
Executive Vice President, Freedom Foundation
Ryan Walker
Executive Vice President, Heritage Action
Heather R. Higgins
Chief Executive Officer, Independent Women’s Voice
Sean Higgins
Research Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
James Erwin
Executive Director, Digital Liberty
Jason Pye
Policy Adviser, FreedomWorks
Mailee Smith
Senior Director of Labor Policy, Illinois Policy Institute
F. Vincent Vernuccio
President, Institute for the American Worker
Seton Motley
President, Less Government
Steve Delie
Director of Labor Policy, Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Brandon Arnold
Executive Vice President, National Taxpayers Union
Tom Hebert
Executive Director, Open Competition Center
Paul J. Gessing
President, Rio Grande Foundation
Caden Rosenbaum
Tech & Innovation Policy Analyst, Libertas Institute
Charles Sauer
President, Market Institute
Doug Kellogg
Director, Ohioans for Tax Reform
Lorenzo Montanari
Executive Director, Property Rights Alliance
Karen Kerrigan
President and CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Maureen Blum
CEO, Strategic Coalitions & Initiatives, LLC
Lindsay Killen
Senior National Advisor, Workers for Opportunity
David Williams
President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Carol Platt Liebau
President, Yankee Institute