 So let's think about a staffing agency that employs a worker and then sends her to a different firm to work each day. That staffing agency may sign her paycheck and determine her wage, but the firm that she reports to every day controls what she does on a day-to-day basis. Both of those employers should be considered joint employers under the law. So the joint employer standard is nothing new. In fact, the concept has been in our laws for over a hundred years. At its core, this is really just about ensuring that all firms, all businesses that share control over a worker's pay, her hours, the shift that she works have some responsibility to that worker under the law. The reason we're hearing so much about the joint employer standard now is that corporations are increasingly relying on complicated subcontracting relationships to get their workforce. And this allows them to essentially contract away responsibility under labor and employment laws. So what does this mean for a worker? This means that if a worker is not paid fairly or discriminated against or harassed on the job, she's going to have a more difficult time remedying that. Think about it this way. A worker who goes to her supervisor, who she believes is her employer and complains about being harassed, may be told, I'm actually not your employer. You need to go contact this other firm that's names on your paycheck. That worker may have had very few interactions with that firm, may not know how to get in touch with them easily. And as a result of that, she's not going to be able to get justice under the law. But the joint employer standard is not only about being paid fairly or remedying discrimination on the job. It also means that it's very difficult for workers who want to form a union to bring their employer to the bargaining table. And it makes it nearly impossible to bargain effectively. The National Labor Relations Board under the Trump administration has proposed a rule that would narrow the joint employer standard such that workers would have very difficult time forming a union and effectively, collectively bargaining. The Department of Labor has also announced plans to narrow the scope of the joint employer definition under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, Congressional Republicans have introduced legislation that would change the joint employer standard to favor companies who contract for their workforce. At its core, this is all about corporations looking to further rig the system. Instead of repealing existing worker protection laws, they're trying to have the joint employer standard reduced such that it no longer works for the workers it was designed to protect. A strong and meaningful joint employer standard is one of the most important tools for working people under our laws.