A National Labor Relations Board decision could affect relationships between some construction contractors and firms that provide temporary labor and potentially with subcontractors, too, an industry official says.
In its 3-2 decision on Aug. 27 involving Browning-Ferris Industries of California, the board expanded the definition of an "employer." Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce was joined by fellow Democrats Kent Y. Hirozawa and Lauren McFerran in revising the board's standard, or test, for determining joint-employer status. Temporary staffing agencies that work for another company should be considered joint employers if they share or "co-determine" essential terms and conditions of employment, they said. The NLRB's GOP members, Philip A. Miscimarra and Harry L. Johnson III, dissented.