The Trump administration is issuing a new federal rule that will insulate McDonald’s and other franchise-based companies from worker lawsuits, delivering a major regulatory win to industries like fast food and temporary staffing.
It’s possible worker advocacy groups will sue in an attempt to keep the rule from going into effect, but senior officials at the Labor Department said they believed issuing it was well within their authority. The language of the rule was released Sunday; it is scheduled to be finalized March 16. The franchise industry portrayed those efforts as a mortal threat to their businesses. McDonald’s went on trial as a joint employer at the National Labor Relations Board, in what had the potential to be a landmark case. But after Trump reshaped the board with a Republican majority, it ordered the case to be settled in what was a de facto victory for McDonald’s.
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