In an article published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Bob Horton provided insight on what responsibilities franchisors have for ensuring that franchisees comply with employment laws. Bob suggests that “simply providing training to franchisees regarding employment law should not transform, by itself, a franchisor into an employer. During the course of employment law training, supervisors will often ask for advice regarding specific situations that come to mind during the training. Responding to such inquiries during the course of training should certainly be avoided as those conversations could be used as evidence of indicia of control by the franchisor.”
The full article, “Franchisors Shouldn’t Micromanage Franchisees’ Compliance Training,” was published by SHRM online on February 21, 2017, and is available online.