Middle-Market Public Policy Roundup
The Senate confirmed a new Internal Revenue Service commissioner and the National Labor Relations Board proposed a change to the joint-employer standard.
In this week’s roundup, we look at the new IRS commissioner, confirmed this week by the Senate, and the National Labor Relations Board’s proposed change to the joint-employer standard. If your business is impacted by this standard, we want to hear from you.
ACG Middle-Market Advocacy Summit Canceled
Due to Hurricane Florence, ACG made the difficult decision to cancel the annual Middle-Market Advocacy Summit, set to take place Sept. 12-13. Our deepest apologies for any inconvenience this cancellation may have caused, and our thoughts are with those affected by the storm.
If you are an ACG member and would like to receive news and updates related to the association’s public policy efforts, please email Ben Marsico, manager of legislative and regulatory affairs, at bmarsico@acg.org, and request to be added to ACG’s public policy distribution list.
Charles Rettig Confirmed as IRS Commissioner
The Senate voted 64-33 to confirm Charles Rettig as the new commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. For the past 35 years, Rettig worked at the law firm Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher and Perez, representing clients attempting to strike deals with the IRS and reduce tax penalties, among other issues.
Rettig will be charged with helping to implement the massive Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the sweeping tax law that was passed last year.
The National Labor Relations Board is set to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that will propose a return to the traditional “direct and immediate control” standard for determining joint-employer status.
NLRB Releases Proposed Rule to Change the Joint-Employer Standard
The National Labor Relations Board is set to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that will propose a return to the traditional “direct and immediate control” standard for determining joint-employer status. The proposal is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Sept. 14. According to the NLRB’s press release:
“Under the proposed rule, an employer may be found to be a joint-employer of another employer’s employees only if it possesses and exercises substantial, direct and immediate control over the essential terms and conditions of employment and has done so in a manner that is not limited and routine. Indirect influence and contractual reservations of authority would no longer be sufficient to establish a joint-employer relationship.”
Currently, an employer may be found to be a joint employer of another employer’s employee based on “indirect” and “potential” control of that employee’s terms and conditions of employment, and thus be required to participate in collective bargaining or be held responsible for labor-law violations. This broad standard has caused tremendous consternation within the business community because it creates unlimited and unpredictable joint-employment liability.
There will be a 60-day comment period for the proposal. ACG is actively analyzing the proposed rule in an effort to determine best next steps. If you are impacted by the joint-employer standard and would like to share your input with ACG, please contact Maria Wolvin, ACG’s vice president and senior counsel of public policy, at mwolvin@acg.org.
Check back each Friday for the weekly Public Policy Roundup. Is there a policy issue you’d like us to cover? Send your suggestions to MMG Editor Kathryn Mulligan at kmulligan@acg.org.
Maria Wolvin is ACG Global’s vice president and senior counsel, public policy.
Ben Marsico is ACG Global’s manager of legislative and regulatory affairs.
