Article

Pressure building: McDonald's and joint employment

As the issue of joint responsibility for employee wages and other workplace issues winds its way through the docket with the NLRB, the battles lines appear to be steepening on both sides.

May 31, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Better wages, better opportunities. Those are among the sentiments expressed — sometimes vehemently — late last week among protesters fighting for a $15-minimum wage outside of McDonald's stockholders' meetingin Chicago. It's part of an overall heightening of tensions among those who work the front lines at the nation's largest quick-service chain and its workers, as well as minimum wage workers all over the country.

The impasse shows no signs of letting up either. Management at the company continues to point to the buck-an-hour increase it made to minimum wage for its workers last July at company-owned and operated restaurants. And although that's only about 10 percent of the massive chain's restaurants, McDonald's asserts that it's already doing everything within its power to make workers lives better.

"We offer McDonald's employees the opportunity to develop the valuable skills and work ethic necessary to build successful careers even beyond our restaurants," Terri Hickey of McDonald's Media Relations, wrote in an email to QSRWeb. "Last July, we raised wages for all employees at our company-owned restaurants to $1 dollar above the local minimum wage and gave them the ability to earn paid time off. And because so many are just starting out in their careers, we invest in Archways to Opportunity, a set of programs for everyone that provides free high school completion courses and college tuition assistance, so they can work toward earning a high school diploma or a college degree."

It looks as if The National Labor Relations Board — the country's main governing body regarding worker pay and on-the-job rights — disagrees with McDonald's stance on the effect and authority it has over its franchisees. The NLRB, in 2014, began issuing unfair labor practice complaints against both McDonald's franchisees and the company itself.

NLRB spokeswoman, Jessica Kahanek declined to comment but said in an email that evidence for the trial regarding the "joint employment" issue started being presented March 10 in New York, and will continue for some time. As the process is complex and has involved numerous parties, Kahanek sent this docket schedule and a flowchart (below) to illustrate how the issues will be handled.

In the meantime, it's clear the NLRB's is deepening its line in the sand regarding joint employment and corporate responsibility. The board's actions thus far mean that McDonald's could be held partially liable for wage violations by its franchisees. The outcome will not only affect the QSR giant, but it could have a major effect on how the world's restaurant chains operate, according to Katie Laning Niebaum, the National Restaurant Association VP of Communications and Media Relations.

"As the nation’s second-largest private sector employer — with small business men and women owning 90 percent of all restaurants — our industry relies on the vision, innovation and risk taking of entrepreneurs to provide opportunities to millions of people," she wrote an in email to QSRWeb. "Attempts to dismantle the existing joint-employer standard, which has been the bedrock of American business relationships for the last three decades, jeopardize business partnerships in all industries."

About S.A. Whitehead

Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.