Law Commons^™

Suing The Government As A 'Joint Employer' - Evolving Pathologies Of The Blended Workforce, Steven L. Schooner, Collin D. Swan

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

As the 'blended workforce' - a realm in which contractors work alongside, and often are indistinguishable from, their Government counterparts - becomes more commonplace, the distinction between civil servants, members of the military and contractor employees increasingly blurs. One intriguing (and, apparently, accelerating), yet little-known trend is that contractor employees are more frequently suing the Government, alleging employment discrimination on the part of Government managers, supervisors or even coworkers. This short piece discusses the evolving 'joint employer' liability doctrine. It suggests that The federal courts' and the EEOC's willingness to define federal agencies as de facto employers of contractor employees …