WASHINGTON—American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) President and CEO Chip Rogers spoke after the National Labor Relations Board issued a final regulation expanding the “joint-employer standard” under the National Labor Relations Act. The standard is used to determine when two or more employers are jointly responsible for a shared group of workers’ essential terms and conditions of employment and thus jointly liable for violations of the National Labor Relations Act and have joint bargaining responsibilities for unionized employees. The NLRB’s expansion, effective Dec. 26, 2023, will impact business-to-business relationships in a manner that will limit opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs and threaten the franchising model.
“NLRB’s actions today are devastating to the hotel industry and the millions of people we employ. This is a partisan gambit to force unions on hotel franchisees and their employees as well as countless other small businesses and workers across the country,” said Rogers. “NLRB’s goal is to coerce businesses to the bargaining table with workers they do not actually employ to artificially increase unionization. This dramatic shift will effectively dismantle the franchise business model—the single greatest avenue to successful entrepreneurship in American history and a system that has helped our industry build millions of well-paying jobs and careers. AHLA is reviewing opportunities to legally challenge this regulation to restore certainty for America’s lodging industry.”
