National Labor Relations Board Chairman John Ring told members of Congress Friday that they were “misinformed” that his agency had been outsourcing its work for a highly anticipated new rule on “joint employer” status.
Democratic lawmakers had previously alleged that the agency, the main federal labor law watchdog, had outsourced work on a rule-making that would cover outsourcing, tainting the integrity of the process.
Ring said that while the agency had hired outside help through the General Services Administration to sort and code incoming public comments, the actual work of evaluating them was being done solely by the NLRB’s in-house staff.
“I would share your concern about a private contractor performing the substantive review of comments in this important matter, particularly with respect to appearance of conflicts of interest and undermining confidence in the Board’s deliberative process. It appears, however, that you were misinformed,” Ring said in a letter Friday to House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla. “The Board has not outsourced, and will not outsource, the substantive review of the joint-employer rulemaking comments.”
Ring was responding to a March 14 letter from Scott and Wilson in which they alleged that the board had “outsourced to a private contractor the review of public comments in the joint employer rulemaking.” The lawmakers did not say in the letter how they came by their information. They said they were particularly concerned if the board had hired “a law firm or company that has represented or consulted any entity that has filed comments” on the rule. They demanded documentation regarding the bidding for the contractor.
Joint employer refers to when one company is so closely involved with another business that it can be held responsible for any workplace violations. Until 2015, the standard required one company to have direct control over another. The Democrat-majority NLRB during the Obama administration broadened the definition to the much vaguer “indirect control.” The change, applauded by organized labor and Democrats, vastly broadened potential corporate liability, especially for companies that franchise their brand, such as fast food restaurants.
Business groups have lobbied aggressively to have the Obama-era standard rolled back. The now Republican-majority NLRB is engaged in an effort to rewrite the rule to codify the previous “direct control” standard.
An Education and Labor Committee spokesman said they were still reviewing Ring’s letter.
