The National Labor Relations Board reinstated the 2020 joint‑employer standard on February 26, 2026, formally withdrawing the 2023 rule and placing the narrower framework back into effect. This action restores the approach that had governed before the 2023 revision and reestablishes the criteria used to determine when two entities share responsibility for a group of workers.
The reinstatement follows a March 2024 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which vacated the 2023 joint‑employer rule. The court concluded that the 2023 standard conflicted with the National Labor Relations Act’s common‑law definition of “employee.” As a result, the 2020 rule once again became the operative standard, although the Code of Federal Regulations had not yet been updated to reflect this. The NLRB’s February 2026 action formally resolves this gap by restoring the text of the 2020 regulation.
Under the reinstated framework, joint‑employer status requires evidence of substantial, direct, and immediate control over essential terms and conditions of employment. This refers to actual involvement in decisions such as hiring, discharge, wages, discipline, or supervision. Authority that exists only in reserve, or influence that is indirect, does not satisfy this threshold. The reinstated test places factual practice rather than retained or indirect authority at the center of joint‑employer evaluations.