Home Health & Hospice Week

Rev your compliance engine when it comes to this revised requirement.

While the effective date of the new joint-employer regulation from the National Labor Relations Board has been postponed to next month, now is not the time for providers to sit idling — they should check under the hood and prepare for change.

Follow this expert advice to get ready:

1. Identify pending contracts, employee agreements, third party arrangements, and current policies and procedures with providers, vendors, subcontractors, etc. that the rule may affect.

2. Evaluate whether the arrangements themselves or wording therein could be interpreted as reserving the right to potentially control any essential term or condition of another entity’s employee(s). Carefully consider the seven categories of “essential” terms and conditions of employment and the benefits and risks of maintaining even a reserved authority.

3. Define or redefine, as needed, the roles, responsibilities and the extent of control exerted over the essential terms and conditions.

4. Consult with legal counsel to analyze and revise these documents, and labor counsel to assess potential collective bargaining implications.

5. Review actual management practices and train management personnel about the new rule and any changes you make to prevent their inadvertent claim of control over workers or even the impression of a reserved authority.

6. Monitor the latest news from the NLRB and the courts for upcoming developments.  

Note: The NLRB’s fact sheet on the rule is at www.nlrb.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/node-9558/joint-employer-fact-sheet-2023.pdf.