January 5th, 2024
CSLB Applauds Three Leading Voices For Minority-Owned Businesses Urging Congress To Overturn Joint Employer Rule
WASHINGTON – The Coalition to Save Local Businesses (CSLB) issued the following statement applauding three leading organizations representing minority-owned businesses that called on Congress to overturn the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) expanded joint employer rule. In a joint letter, the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE), U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. and U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce urged congressional leaders to support the Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval (H.J Res.98/ S.J.Res. 49) that passed the House Education & Workforce Committee on December 12, 2023, and is expected to be voted on by the full House chamber imminently.
“The dream of small business ownership should be accessible to everyone,” said Michael Layman, senior advisor to the Coalition to Save Local Businesses. “The job-killing joint employer rule hinders minority entrepreneurship, therefore obstructing opportunities to bridge the racial wealth gap in this country. CSLB applauds the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE), the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for their support in calling on Congress to overturn the joint employer rule.”
In the letter, the organizations said, “It is our experience that when business models are transformed – for better or worse – the minority community, often under-capitalized, shoulders a disproportionate burden of the immediate harm. We are very concerned that what will remain of the franchise model could undo progress toward diversity and inclusion in this major sector of the economy.”
Proposed in September 2022, the NLRB’s expanded joint employer rule was finalized on October 26, 2023 and is scheduled to take effect on February 26, 2024. The NLRB’s final joint employer rule would expand the definition of joint employer, stripping small business owners of authority over their employees. This new joint employer rule expands on an old joint employer rule that destroyed an estimated 376,000 jobs, cost small businesses an estimated $33 billion, and led to a 93% spike in lawsuits in the franchise sector alone.
According to a 2021 Oxford Economics study, 26% of franchises are minority owned as well as 17% of independent businesses.
This letter is in addition to the nearly 75 national organizations who earlier this year expressed support for the resolution in a letter to Congress. Organizations in Arizona, California, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, and North Dakota also sent similar letters in support of the resolutions to their state congressional delegations.
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