An Illinois federal judge found sandwich franchisor Jimmy John’s was not a joint employer of its franchisees’ assistant store managers (“ASMs”). Judge Charles Kocoras based his decision on the facts that Jimmy John’s did not “(1) have the power to hire or fire franchise employees; (2) supervise and/or control employee work schedules or conditions of payments; (3) determine the rate and method of payment; or (4) maintain employment records for franchise employees.”

The Judge relied upon Moldenhauer v. Tazewell-Pekin Consolidated Communications Center, a 10-year-old U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit case. He also considered but rejected other factors alleged by the ASMs: (1) Jimmy John’s controls employee training and appearance by requiring franchisees to follow training materials in an Operations Manual and online toolkit, and having strict clothing, facial hair, tattoo and jewelry requirements; (2) franchisees had to follow day-to-day checklists from the operations manual, which covered ASM daily tasks/working conditions and store decorations/displays; and (3) Jimmy John’s business coaches “managed franchise employees” by enforcing policies and procedures through store audits and influencing store owners and managers.