Overview
- - The Labor Department proposed a rule that narrows when two businesses share legal responsibility for a worker’s wages and leave.
- - The draft adopts a direct-control test that looks at who hires or fires, sets pay, directs daily work, and keeps employment records.
- - The standard would apply across the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and farmworker protections to create one national approach.
- - The agency opened a 60-day public comment period, and it said a final rule could follow later this year.
- - Franchise groups praised the clarity while worker advocates warned of weaker wage-theft enforcement, and courts will decide how much weight to give the rule.