McDonald's and the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) will finally settle head to head in court on Monday. With allegations against the fast food company that it violated employee rights under the National Labor Relations ACT. This has been a long-standing issue that is now being pushed to trial.
The NLRB started filing charges against the fast food company McDonald's in November of 2012, accusing McDonald's and a number of its local franchises of violating workers right in its response to protests for a better wages, union, conditions and treatment.
The board determined 86 cases that were worthy of investigation during the year of 2014, where 43 of this alleged cases had merit.
In July 2014, the NLRB came out and said that McDonald's could be considered a joint employer with its franchises, therefore the company could be directly involved in this matter, and is held responsible for the control and supervision of employee activity at any of its franchised locations.
Franchised locations of McDonald's make up to about 80% of its global presence in the market, therefore McDonald's would not be held liable for employee-related decision by its franchisees.
McDonald's argues that it cannot be held accountable for the actions of independent franchise holders, and is fighting against being a joint employer with franchisees. The company has yet to comment further regarding this issue.
This move has sent a message to franchises everywhere, that the same situation against them could become the norm. The franchising world fears that a joint employer status would destroy the franchise model, as we know it.
But not everyone shares the same opinion, Catherine Ruckelshaus, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project, said "Strong joint employment will help not only workers and small businesses to make ends meet, it would even the playing field for true mom-and-pop businesses."
Court proceedings against McDonald's will begin on Monday in New York, then Chicago and Los Angeles to see if the company can actually be considered a joint employer and if the violations did occur in the different establishments or franchises.
It is possible that executives from McDonald's will be introduced to testify against these claims while opening statements will be held by NLRB's general counsel. Most likely McDonald's will try to keep the event in close doors since documents involved in the matter are confidential.
