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Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Wage and Hour Division issued an Administrator’s
Interpretation on joint
employment
under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural
Worker Protection Act (MSPA).
Under these laws, it is a
longstanding principle that
a worker can be jointly employed by two or more employers who are both
responsible, simultaneously, for compliance. Whether an employee has more than
one employer is important in determining employees’ rights and employers’
obligations under the FLSA and MSPA.
In the Wage and Hour Division, we have been examining
employment relationships during our investigations into possible wage and other
labor violations for decades. In fact, we consider joint employment in hundreds
of investigations every year. That being said, protecting workers in fissured
workplaces — where there is increasingly the possibility that
more than one employer is benefiting from the work — has recently been a major
focus for us. WHD will consider joint employment to hold all responsible
parties accountable for their legal obligations.
While we devote significant
resources to enforcing labor standards in order to protect the rights of
workers, we are also committed to engaging with and educating employers about
their responsibilities so they can operate in compliance with the law. This Administrator’s
Interpretation identifies common scenarios in which
two or more employers jointly employ an employee and are thus jointly liable
for compliance. It pulls together all the relevant authorities –
statutory provisions, regulations, and case law – to provide comprehensive
guidance on joint employment under FLSA and MSPA so that employers can properly
analyze a potential joint employment scenario.
For more information, please
visit our Joint
Employment AI webpage, which includes the following materials:
- Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2016-1: Joint employment under
the FLSA and MSPA
- Joint Employment Questions and Answers
-
New fact sheet 28N: Joint Employment and Primary and Secondary Employer
Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
-
Revised fact sheet 35: Joint Employment Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA)
- Links to recent media and more.
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