Hundreds of franchise owners are blanketing Capitol Hill this week to urge members of Congress to roll back the National Labor Relations Board’s expansion of who is a “joint employer,” the Washington Business Journal reported. The Protecting Local Business Act (HR 3459) would overturn the NLRB’s new standard by stating that two or more employers would be considered joint employers only if they share “actual, direct and immediate” control “over essential terms and conditions of employment.” In a recent case, the NLRB ruled 3-2 that indirect control or potential control over employment terms could be enough for a company — such as a franchisor or a business that hires a staffing agency — to be a joint employer. The new standard could boost the efforts of labor unions to organize fast-food workers. It also could force franchisors to exercise more control over their franchisees, making owning a franchise a less desirable option for small business owners.