Reference no: EM131735500

Your opinion, 100 words

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The National Labror Relations Board has expanded the obligations for companies that utilize outsourcing to fulfill staffing needs. The company (outsourcing company) utilizing this services can be considered a joint employer and thus held responsible for labor violations of the third party company (outsourcer).

At first glance this seems unfair. However, in order to be considered a joint employer, the company must have direct control over an individual's working conditions. Hence forth, a company can also be considered a joint employer if they control an individual's working conditions indirectly. This case was originally brought by a union on behalf of a member but the precedent is not limited to union members.

In my opinion, the addition of 'indirect control' to the description of joint employer scenarios will do little to solve any perceived problems regarding labor abuses. First, this creates a murkey area of subjectivity in which the team with the better lawyers will prevail. Likely this will be the accused violator of working conditions.

Second, I'm not sure that this is solving a real problem. I work with many people on premesis from Wipro, Infosys, and Tata. These individuals are treated with the same respect as all full time employees. While my experiences may not reflect all situations, it is my firm belief that this behavior is the rule rather than the exception.

One way that I think this ruling may help is in off-premise outsourcing endeavors. This ruling could encourage companies pursuing an outsourcing strategy to add terms and conditions to their contracts that insist on better treatment of the outsourcer's employees working on its projects.

This could improve the lives of contributors living in nations without these protections. Asking outsourcer companies to follow more stringent rules regarding working conditions, hours worked, etc. could lead to higher costs.

While I would like to envision a situation where this effect snowballs and improves the lives of my overseas counterparts, I am not optimistic. Enforcement of this law across country boundaries would be difficult at best.