The McDonald’s franchise has been under hot water since the NLRB issued a complaint against the franchise, alleging the franchisor and franchisees were classified as joint employers. This happened back in July and it is still a very hot topic. But what does this mean for franchisors? We spoke with attorney Lee Plave of Plave Koch PLC to get to the bottom of it.

When the National Labor Relations Board decided to consider McDonald’s a joint employer of all workers within the franchise, fears spread like wildfire. This ruling meant that any McDonald’s employee was considered jointly employed with the McDonald’s franchisor, even though individual franchisees hired the employees. So if a problem came up like injustice in the hiring or firing department, complaints could go all the way up to the top.

If you’ve skimmed business news recently, you know that McDonald’s is in some hot water over some of its recent terminations. A lawsuit is being filed against a New York location for allegedly firing employees for their involvement in union activities, according to this Bloomberg piece.