Earlier this week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its final rule for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. The final rule reinstates the “direct and immediate control” standard, whereby a company must have substantial direct control over the essential terms and conditions of employment of another employer’s workers in order to be found to meet the “joint-employer” threshold. Further, that substantial and direct control must be actually used, rather than just existing with the potential to be used in order to meet the standard. Essential terms of employment include such items as wages, benefits, hours, hiring, discharge, discipline, supervision, and direction. The NLRB is the second of three federal agencies with responsibilities for joint employer status to have finalized the standard. The Department of Labor was the first when back in January it released its final rule defining joint employer under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the final of the three, has indicated that it too will soon release its final rule on joint-employer status. All three had previously declared their intent to clarify and update the joint-employer test process. The NLRB final rule will go into effect on April 27, 2020.