On January 20, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued an Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) on Joint Employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), amongst other federal statutes. This AI provides direction on who is considered a joint employer under the FLSA.The FLSA provides a very broad definition of “employ” (to suffer or permit to work) which ensures the scope of an employment relationship is interpreted as broadly as possible. This also applies to joint employment situations, when an employee can have two or more employers for work that the employee is performing.Given the ever-changing business model, more companies are sharing employees or using independent contractors, staffing agencies, or third-party management companies. In considering whether a joint employment relation exists, the AI provides guidance and samples of horizontal joint employment and vertical joint employment. The focus of a horizontal joint employment analysis is on the relationship and association between the two or more employers. The focus of a vertical joint employment analysis is on the relationship between the employee and the potential employer and whether an employment relationship exists between them.The existence of a joint employment relationship will result in each joint employer being individually and jointly and severally liable for compliance with the FLSA. This obligates the joint employers, for example, to individually and jointly ensure the payment of wages for all hours worked by the employee, including the payment of any overtime for non-exempt employees. The joint employment relationship may further render a joint employer subject to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) because jointly-employed employees are counted for coverage and eligibility determinations.This AI is intended to further educate employers about their duties and obligations under federal law and to address the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Most recently, for example, the WHD determined that J&J Snack Foods Corporation (J&J) and the two staffing firms it contracted with to provide temporary production line workers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were joint employers. Based upon this determination, WHD found that J&J and the staffing firm denied minimum wages and overtime pay to those workers in violation of the FLSA and, as a result, J&J agreed to pay $2.1 million in back wages and damages.To ensure compliance with the FLSA, businesses should regularly review its model to determine whether it is a joint employer, particularly where it has employees who work for two associated or related employers or where the employee’s employer is an intermediary or otherwise provides labor to another employer.Attorney Loren L. Speziale regularly counsels employers large and small on employment-related issues including employee classification.