Where two (2) or more businesses exercise some control over the work or working conditions of the employee, the businesses may be considered joint employers under the DCFMLA. Joint employers may be separate and distinct entities with separate owners, managers, and facilities.
Where the employee performs work which simultaneously benefits two (2) or more employers, or works for two (2) or more employers at different times during the workweek, a joint employment relationship generally will be considered to exist in situations such as:
the other employer in relation to the employee; or
Joint employment will ordinarily be found to exist when a temporary placement agency supplies employees to a second employer.
A determination of whether or not a joint employment relationship exists is not determined by the application of any single criterion, but rather the entire relationship viewed in the totality.
In joint employment relationships, only the primary employer is responsible for giving the required notices to its employees, providing DCFMLA leave, and maintenance of health benefits.
Factors considered in determining which is the primary employer include authority or responsibility to hire and fire, assign, or place the employee, make payroll, and provide employment benefits. For employees of temporary placement agencies, for example, the placement agency most commonly would be the primary employer.
Employees jointly employed by two (2) employers shall be counted by both employers, whether or not the employee is maintained on only one (1) of the employers' payrolls, in determining coverage and employee eligibility.
Job restoration is the primary responsibility of the primary employer.
The secondary employer is responsible for accepting the employee returning from DCFMLA leave in place of the replacement employee if the secondary employer continues to utilize an employee from the primary employer, and the primary employer chooses to place the employee with the secondary employer.
The secondary employer is also subject to § 1621 with respect to its joint employees, whether or not the secondary employer is covered by DCFMLA.
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 4, r. 4-1602