It’s an issue that’s seemingly been resolved more times than one can count since President Trump took office in 2017, but joint employer is still rearing its ugly head periodically – and this time at the state level. The effort in Colorado to codify the egregious joint employer standard from the Obama-era NLRB almost completely slipped by under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rule was published by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment back in mid-April and a ‘virtual public hearing’ was held last Friday, May 15 to discuss the state’s joint employer definition as well as proposed rules for the Wage Protection Act along with rules governing wage and hour investigations. Participation in the hearing was limited to one of three vehicles: viewing the live streamed proceedings without testifying; participating and testifying over the internet by visiting the “hangouts meet” webpage (I am not kidding!) or participating via telephone (whether testifying or not). Whether one knew about this hearing in the midst of a global pandemic or not, final written comments were due by 6:00 PM on Wednesday. A hearing on the question was held last Friday, May 15 and public comments were to be submitted by yesterday, May 20! The CFA along with the International Franchise Association (IFA) are now working to educate Colorado legislators about this stealth regulatory move and slow the process down.