quote:

The ruling, which may eventually be challenged in court in a variety of individual disputes, changes the definition of a crucial employer-employee relationship that had held in some form since the 1980s. Now, a company that hires a contractor to staff its facilities may be considered a so-called joint employer of the workers at that facility, even if it does not actively supervise them.

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Before Thursday’s ruling, the prevailing doctrine typically required the upstream company to exert “direct and immediate” control over working conditions of employees at its franchisees or contractors to be considered a joint employer.

But the N.L.R.B. ruling moves the standard closer, if not all the way back, to what some say is its more liberal, pre-1980s interpretation. Under the new test, a company can be considered a joint employer even if it has only indirect control over working conditions — say, through requiring the use of certain scheduling software that affects the timing and length of workers’ shifts.