The House’s  Workforce Protections subcommittee held a public hearing this week on the Save Local Business Act (HR.3441), a bill filed by Alabama republican Congressman Bradley Byrne and co-sponsored by 63 others even including a handful of democratic members. Notwithstanding the bipartisan support the bill has enjoyed, this memo from democratic congressional staff paints a solid picture of opposition from the democratic party. The bill would reverse the NLRB 2015 Browning-Ferris decision by providing that a company could be designated a joint-employer only if it were “directly, actually and immediately, and not in a limited and routine manner, exercises significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment . . .” involved in the business’ core functions of employment, including hiring and firing, scheduling and setting pay. If passed, this standard would apply to both the National Labor Relations Act as well as the Fair Labor Standards Act. The hearing, held on Wednesday, included testimony from a number of witnesses opposing the new joint-employer definition, one of whom, Tamra Kennedy, was a franchisee representing the International Franchise Association (IFA). You can watch it on You Tube, with the hearing called to order at 16:30 of the tape and testimony starting at the 42:00 minute mark.