American Franchise Act
Sponsored By: Senator Roger Marshall
Introduced
Summary
Creates a uniform national test that limits when a franchisor can be treated as a joint employer. This bill would set a clear, technology neutral standard for when a franchisor has 'substantial direct and immediate control' over essential terms of a franchisee's employees and apply that test under both the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
When franchisors count as employers
This bill would set a clear national test for when a franchisor can be treated as a joint employer of a franchisee's workers. A franchisor would be a joint employer only if it regularly and directly controls one or more essential job terms: wages, benefits, hours, hiring, firing, discipline, supervision, or direction. The bill would define "substantial direct and immediate control" to mean a regular or continuous consequential effect and would exclude sporadic, isolated, de minimis, or routine arm's-length interactions. The bill would use federal franchising definitions (including 16 C.F.R. §436.1 and Petroleum Marketing Practices Act terms) and would make the FLSA test match the NLRA franchising test.
No retroactive effect on cases
This bill would not apply to any proceeding that was started before the date of enactment. If you or your employer already have a labor or FLSA case pending, the old legal standards would still apply to that case. New cases filed after enactment would follow the bill's new joint-employer rules.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Roger Marshall
KS • R
Cosponsors
Angus King
ME • I
Sponsored 12/17/2025
James Lankford
OK • R
Sponsored 12/17/2025
Tim Sheehy
MT • R
Sponsored 12/17/2025
Susan Collins
ME • R
Sponsored 12/17/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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