By Bill Dipaola
When election season rolls around, voters are accustomed to hearing politicians proclaim their support for small businesses–institutions that routinely top Gallup’s list of America’s most trusted by a country mile.
It’s easy to talk the talk during campaign season. It’s much harder to do the work when the cameras are off, and the spotlight fades.
In Louisiana, entrepreneurs have no firmer ally than our senior senator, Bill Cassidy. For those of us in the franchise community, Senator Cassidy has been a consistent and steadfast advocate—and that matters, especially as our state continues to face economic headwinds. In 2025, Louisiana ranked near the bottom of CNBC’s “Top States for Business.” We cannot afford policies that make it harder to grow.
As a franchisee operating two family-run Chicken Salad Chick locations in the New Orleans area and soon to open a third, I’ve seen firsthand how federal policy decisions ripple through local businesses like mine. Senator Cassidy has stood up not just for me, but for the more than 12,000 franchise establishments across Louisiana that provide jobs and opportunity in communities large and small.
Like many entrepreneurs, I chose the franchise model because it offers the best of both worlds: the independence to run my day-to-day operations while benefiting from the strength of a proven brand. It’s a uniquely American system with roots tracing back to Benjamin Franklin’s printing press.
Yet the foundation of franchising depends on a clear line between franchisor and franchisee—a line defined in federal policy by what’s known as the “joint employer standard.”
This rule determines whether franchise owners remain truly independent operators or become little more than middle managers under distant corporate control. When that line blurs, the consequences are significant. Expanded joint employer standards expose entire brands to increased litigation, higher insurance costs, compliance burdens, and legal fees. Those pressures inevitably trickle down to local operators, our employees, and ultimately the customers we serve.
Read the entire article in The Fulcrum HERE.