Attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia won a partial victory Tuesday in their lawsuit over the US Department of Labor’s new joint employer rule. Bloomberg Law reports the court found the Department of Labor regulation is “arbitrary and capricious,” and the ruling vacated the department’s new test under the law for determining “vertical employment” when a worker enters a relationship with one company, such as a staffing firm, but is economically dependent on another employer.
The joint employment standards determine when more than one employer is responsible for a worker under the Fair Labor Standards Act because both exert influence over a worker’s employment, according to the office of the New York Attorney General, who is leading the effort against the rule. The Department of Labor introduced the final rule earlier this year, narrowing the standard for which entities may be held jointly responsible for wage-and-hour violations under the FLSA.