The NRA is working to protect the ability of our members to entertain their guests through music, and preserve a functional marketplace that enables millions of businesses across the country to efficiently play and pay for publicly performed songs.

Today, they signed on to a coalition letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to maintain the “consent decrees” that govern the two largest performance rights organizations (PROs): the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). Essentially, the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees require that each PRO grant performance-right licenses to play music on a non-discriminatory basis and at fair prices.

Due to recent comments by an Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ, the NRA has reason to believe that these consent decrees may soon be terminated. Such an action would exacerbate an already difficult and expensive music licensing system that restaurateurs already have difficulty navigating to simply play music for their guests.

They agree with the DOJ that Congress should enact reforms to update the current music-licensing process. In fact, NRA is meeting with U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (IL) this week to discuss legislation that will make music licensing more transparent for our members. However, if the DOJ simply abandoned the use of consent decrees before an alternative framework has been implemented, this could force many restaurateurs to stop playing music altogether or lead to steep fines for copyright infringement.

NRA plans to meet again with the DOJ to discuss the importance of preserving the consent decrees, and will continue engaging with Congress to develop a more transparent and fair music-licensing system. 

JOIN ONE • JOIN ALL

Membership in KRHA also provides you membership with the NRA.

With some of our industry's most significant challenges arising at the state and local levels, dual membership allows us to strengthen our advocacy efforts and bolster our industry's impact at every level of government.  

The restaurant industry has worked tirelessly to oppose the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) overreach on the definition of a joint employer. We must urge the Senate to introduce and pass legislation to restore the joint-employer standard that existed before the NLRB's intervention. 

Click here to urge your Senators to support this legislation

The Issue:
On February 26, the NLRB reversed its previous ruling that overturned the overreaching joint-employer standard. It was determined that one of the NLRB commissioners should have recused himself from the case due to a conflict of interest. 

As a result, the ruling expands the joint-employer standard to anyone who exercises indirect, potential, or unexercised reserved control over workers’ terms and conditions of employment, such as hiring, firing, determining pay, or supervising employees on a routine basis.

The Solution:
In 2017, the House passed H.R. 3441, the Save Local Business Act, to amend the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act to clarify that two or more employers must have “actual, direct, and immediate” control over their employees to be considered joint employers. Now, we need the Senate to support immediate consideration of H.R. 3441 to write a permanent, federal joint-employment liability standard into law.

What Can You Do?: 
Click here and contact your Senators today. Tell them to introduce and pass the Save Local Business Act.

White House Unveils Overtime Changes

The National Restaurant Association will hold a complimentary webinar on the Overtime Rule on Thursday, May 26, at 3 p.m. Eastern. There is no cost to attend this webinar, however, registration is required, which can be done by clicking here. Below is a brief summary of the final rule.  4.2 million salaried workers will be affected by this rule based on their salaries.  Make sure you are prepared for changes that could impact your operation.

Summary of the Final Rule

The final rule is 508 pages long. The restaurant industry is mentioned 39 times and the National Restaurant Association’s comments are cited 22 times. Kudos to all of you who went through our portal to submit comments, as the final rule highlights that “the National Restaurant Association submitted 2,648 comments.” For those of you not wishing to read 508 pages of exhilarating regulatory language, the government provided a 3-page overview. We can summarize it further to these four bullets: 

• It guarantees time-and-half pay to any salaried employee earning under $47,476 a year ($913 a week) and who works more than 40 hours in a week.
• Automatically updates the salary threshold every three years, tying it to the 40th percentile of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-income Census region. The first update would be Jan. 1, 2020. Furthermore, the DOL projects a salary threshold of $51,000 by Jan. 1, 2020.
• Makes no changes in the duties tests used to determine whether a salaried employee above the threshold is considered exempt from overtime pay.
• For the first time, it allows certain bonuses and incentive payments to count toward up to 10 percent of the new salary level, if the payments are made on at least a quarterly basis.

Engagement with the National Restaurant Association

I would like to again thank the thousands of you who engaged through the National Restaurant Association by using our “Take Action” page, attending our Public Affairs Conference, or by other means.  As mentioned, the Administration highlighted that the Association submitted 2,648 comments. 

Two clear examples of our influence in the Overtime Rule are highlighted in the sections dealing with the “long” duties test and the bonuses. On the “long” duties test, the Rule states that the “Department understands the concerns of employers and their advocates that prohibiting managers from ‘pitching-in’ could negatively affect the workplace. For example, NRA stated that ‘Performing hands-on work at the manager’s own discretion to ensure that operations are successfully run in no way compromises the fact that the manager’s primary responsibility is performing exempt work.’” As to allowing bonuses, the Rule states that “Commenters representing employers offered a range of reasons for generally supporting the inclusion of nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments…the NRA agreed that such payments are a key part of exempt employees’ compensation in its industry.” 

Your membership in the Kansas Restaurant & Hospitality Association includes dual membership in the National Restaurant Association.  Thank you to the NRA for providing updates on federal regulatory changes.

Combining forces to empower a thriving hospitality industry in Kansas!

Of the many employer compliance provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that took effect in 2014, many HR and Payroll departments have found that one of the most immediate impacts has been determining which employees qualify as “full-time employees” under the law.

Defined under the ACA, an employee’s monthly status as full-time is an average of just over 30 hours per week, at least 130 hours a month. This is quite a drastic change from the 40 hour workweek of recent years.

In the time since the provisions of the ACA, it has become apparent that 30 hours a week doesn’t work for many restaurants or their employees and businesses are being forced to make difficult decisions to comply with the law’s redefinition of a full-time workweek.

As such, in an attempt to urge Congress to change the health care law’s definition of “full time” to the traditional 40 hours a week, a number of major business groups joined together to form the More Time for Full Time initiative.

“As all Americans have known for decades, 40 hours represents the widely-accepted definition of a full-time workweek. Unless there is a statutory change to the definition of a full-time employee in the ACA, there will be fewer full-time jobs, more part-time workers and fewer overall hours available for Americans to work,” said International Franchise Association President & CEO Steve Caldeira. “This initiative will bring greater focus to the negative impact this law is having for workers and employers and hopefully move us closer to the bipartisan reform we need.”

Helping lead the movement is the National Restaurant Association (NRA). Other organizations involved include: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the International Franchise Association, the American Rental Association, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Grocers Association, and the National Association of Theatre Owners.

According to the NRA, “The organizations taking part in the initiative are united by their belief that aligning the health care law’s definition of full-time employee with the traditional 40-hour definition would benefit employees through more hours and income and allow employers to focus on growing their businesses and creating jobs rather than restructuring their workforce.”

Without a change in the law, employers with 50 or more full-time employees — using 30 hours a week as the baseline for determining who is full time — may have to significantly limit scheduling flexibility for their employees and eliminate the aspect of restaurant employment that has driven millions to work in the industry.

(202) 973-3967

(202) 331-5939

WASHINGTON, D.C.—
Organizations representing hundreds of thousands of employers and tens of millions of employees are launching the More Time for Full-Time initiative.

The initiative, which includes the International Franchise Association, the National Restaurant Association, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the National Retail Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Rental Association, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Grocers Association, and the National Association of Theatre Owners, will highlight the negative impact the 30-hour work week definition in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has on employees and employers, and urges Congress to restore the traditional definition of a full-time employee to 40 hours per week through bipartisan reform. Returning to a traditional 40-hour definition would benefit employees through more hours and income, and employers would gain the ability to focus on growth and expansion instead of restructuring their workforce.

The launch includes a video, which will be featured on the new website moretimeforfulltime.org that highlights the challenges workers and employers face as a result of the 30-hour work week definition.

“As all Americans have known for decades, 40 hours represents the widely-accepted definition of a full-time work week. Unless there is a statutory change to the definition of a full-time employee in the ACA, there will be fewer full-time jobs, more part-time workers and fewer overall hours available for Americans to work,” said International Franchise Association President & CEO Steve Caldeira. “This initiative will bring greater focus to the negative impact this law is having for workers and employers and hopefully move us closer to the bipartisan reform we need.”

“As the nation’s second largest private sector employer, restaurants provide opportunity to a workforce of over 13.5 million employees,” said National Restaurant Association President and CEO Dawn Sweeney. “The restaurant and foodservice industries are attractive to millions of Americans looking for flexible work schedules. As the current health care law stands, the artificially low bright line of 30 hours as full time, forces employers to limit that flexibility, stifling opportunity for expansion and job creation to the detriment of our workforce. Raising the law’s definition of full-time employee status to more traditional standard operating practices will alleviate the burden placed on restaurant operators. They can then continue to provide flexibility to their employees, grow their businesses and continue to be job creators.”

“The More Time for Full-Time initiative provides an honest look at how the new definition of a full-time employee under Obamacare is affecting men and women who work hard every day to care for themselves and their families,” said Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. “This short-sighted change greatly limits workers’ ability to maintain the flexible work schedule they seek in the hotel industry. Returning to the traditional 40-hour work week would restore opportunities for hard-working Americans, and allow hoteliers to better meet their employees’ needs.”

“The retail industry is committed to the smooth implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” National Retail Federation Vice President for Health Policy Neil Trautwein said. “However for the health care law to work effectively, practical and necessary modifications need to occur - including readjusting the law’s definition of what constitutes a full-time worker back to 40 hours a week. Returning to the industry standard of 40 hours would benefit employers and employees alike and lessen the burden Obamacare places on businesses and the economy. The retail community supports the bipartisan work of the ‘More Time for Full-Time’ initiative and looks forward to working with the administration and Congress to make this change a reality.”

“Employees and employers alike are starting to feel the painful effects of the 30-hour work week definition,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Bruce Josten. “Nobody benefits when employees lose the flexibility they value or the work and income they rely upon and employers face yet another obstacle to managing their workforce in a challenging economic climate. Restoring the traditional 40-hour work week is a small but needed change that benefits everyone. A majority in the House understands this. Now we need the Senate and President Obama to understand this as well.”

“The ACA was passed to help the very people that the 30 hour definition hurts. The definition of FTE needs to be increased to 40 hours," stated American Rental Association Vice President of Government Affairs John McClelland.

About Us:

Associations representing millions of employers from across the country – across a variety of industries from retail and restaurants to grocery and hotels – are behind the More Time for Full Time coalition. This initiative has come together because employees in these industries are being squeezed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (ACA or Obamacare) 30-hours-per-week definition of full-time employee.