House and Senate Lawmakers Reintroduce the SWACCA-Opposed “Save Local Business Act”
Today, lawmakers in the House and Senate reintroduced the “Save Local Business Act.” This legislation would codify the Trump-era joint employer rule SWACCA, our union allies, and the Construction Employers of America have been advocating for the Biden Administration to rescind. Specifically, this bill would amend the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act to substantially curtail the instances in which a company may be deemed a joint employer in relation to the employees of another entity, like a subcontractor, such that it would almost never be liable for misclassification of the subcontractor’s workers as independent contractors or other serious violations of federal employment laws.
As you may recall, SWACCA joined the Construction Employers of America in submitting comments on April 9th in support of the Department of Labor’s proposed rescission of the Trump-era final rule on joint employer status that is very similar to the Save Local Business Act. In the letter, we explained that the final rule encouraged the misclassification of workers as independent contractors by insulating higher level subcontractors and general contractors who benefit from and sometimes encourage misclassification among subcontractors. In addition, the letter explains how the final joint employer rule represents an impermissible interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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