Guinta Meets with Franchise Owner About Regulations

Debra Desrosiers asked Congressman-elect Frank Guinta (NH-01) to be mindful of the impacts that federal regulations and laws have on local franchise small businesses when he visited her Visiting Angels location in Auburn on Dec. 16.

“Congress has an important role to play in ensuring that laws and regulations help spur our local economy,” Debra Desrosiers, co-owner of Visiting Angels in Auburn said. “We have more than 100 employees who work for us and in excess of 100 clients who rely on our ability to provide them with professional, cost-effective in-home eldercare. However, should the National Labor Relations Board issue regulations that would change the current relationship we have with our employees, we could lose our business, our employees could lose their jobs, and our clients could lose the care they need.”

Joining Ms. Desrosiers and Congressman-elect Guinta at Visiting Angels were other local franchise small business owners who share Ms. Desrosiers’s concerns about new federal regulations; especially the pending NLRB decision that would redefine the terms of a joint employer.

Should the definition of joint employer be changed to place local franchise employees under a brand company, it’s possible that local business owners would lose their franchises; squandering the time and personal resources they invested to make their business a success. It’s also possible that a brand company would choose to manage a particular franchise location differently, potentially leading to lower wages or even closing the franchise business altogether, costing the community jobs and economic activity.

In New Hampshire alone there are more than 3,700 independently owned franchise locations employing nearly 40,000 people and leading to $3.6 billion in economic output.

“I thank Debra for the opportunity to visit with her and some of her staff today and want to assure her – and the other local franchise owners here in New Hampshire – that I will fight to make sure Washington doesn’t get in the way of their businesses being a success,” Congressman-elect Guinta said. “I’ve learned a lot today about the challenges these small business owners face and look forward to getting back to the Capitol to be a voice for these hardworking people.”

Nationwide there are more than 770,000 franchise establishments, employing more than 8.5 million people and driving in excess of $2 trillion of economic activity annually.

Today’s event is part of a nationwide member education effort being led by the International Franchise Association’s Franchise Action Network. Also today, local franchise business owners in Northern Virginia are meeting with Congresswoman-elect Barbara Comstock (VA-10). IFA is in the process of planning other events with members and members-elect in the near future.

“The facts are on our side. The more elected officials know about the harmful consequences of redefining the joint employer standard would have on local small businesses, employees and the economy, the better for franchise owners and the communities they serve,” said Steve Caldeira, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association. “Our coordinated member education effort will take us to every Congressional office in Washington and to many districts across the country. These issues are too important to our local and national economy to ignore.”

About the International Franchise Association


The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 55 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 770,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million direct and indirect jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.

Submitted text and courtesy photo.