Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1115386
26 PalletCentral • March-April 2019 palletcentral.com The first major development on the joint employer front in the Trump administration came in June 2017, when Labor Secretary Acosta withdrew the 2015 DOL guidance, and removed it from the DOL and OSHA websites, even though it continues to be enforced. In fact, DOL stressed that the removal of the Obama-era guidance did not change legal responsibilities of employers or existing case law. However, enforcement is in limbo when it comes to how multiple entities will be prosecuted as "joint employers." DOL previously viewed "joint employment" as existing "when an employee is employed by two (or more) employers, such as that the employers are individually and jointly responsible to the employee for compliance with a statute." This affected franchise operations where the franchisor maintains significant control over the operations, HR and safety for franchise holders. It also was applied to relations between host employers and staffing agencies that provide temporary workers. This becomes a more significant issue as the use of temporaries, "contractors" and others in flexible or gig-style arrangements grows. A 2016 National Bureau of Economic Research study found the percentage of workers engaged in alternative work arrange- ments rose to nearly 16% in 2015 from just 10% a decade earlier. These types of contingent workers are also over-represented in fatal and serious accident cases, when compared with their overall presence in the workforce. Too often, these workers fall through the gaps in safety programs, as each entity assumes the other has provided the requisite training or medical evaluations. From OSHA's perspective, there can be no second-class citizens when it comes to safety protections. Under the multi-employer worksite doctrine (recently reaffirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Cir., in the Hensel Phelps 2018 decision) OSHA can issue citations to the host employer, the staffing agency, or both, for hazardous exposures to the temporary worker or inadequate training or safety supervision. Moreover, if the worker is injured, there is normally no worker's SAFETY