Labor Relations: McDonald’s Held to Not Be a Joint Employer of Franchisee’s California Employees  

There was some pretty big news recently in the legal world for a certain business segment.

For the franchising industry, a federal appeals court held that McDonald’s cannot be held liable as a joint employer of the employees of its franchisees.

Writes Barnes & Thornburg:

In Salazar v. McDonald’s Corp. , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld summary judgment in favor of McDonald’s in a case involving a class of nearly 1,400 workers employed by a McDonald’s franchisee. The lawsuit asserted a number of wage and hour violations under the California Labor Code, negligence, and relief under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The class previously settled with the franchisee, but sought to hold McDonald’s responsible as a joint employer. The District Court disagreed, holding that McDonald’s was not a joint employer of the franchisee’s employees and rejecting the employees’ other theories of liability. The employees appealed and the Ninth Circuit affirmed.

A Barnes & Thornburg publication has the full story.