By: Sheila Raftery Wiggins

The U.S. Department of Labor unveiled its alliance with a sandwich franchisor to help improve the franchisee owners’ compliance with wage-and-hour laws. Under this agreement, the franchisor agreed to share data and swap ideas about promoting compliance with labor laws and co-developing training materials for distribution to franchisee owners. The agreement also includes a commitment to “explore ways to use technology to support franchisee compliance, such as building alerts into the payroll and scheduling platform that [the franchisor] offers as a service to its franchisees.” WARNING: Agreements like these may support a joint employer determination. Whether this agreement is truly a “recipe for success” is in the fine details.

Sheila Raftery Wiggins, of the Newark office, handles matters involving complex commercial disputes, insurance defense, coverage disputes, financial fraud, and attorney ethics.