ATLANA, GA – The Asian American Hotel Owners Association applauded the signing into law today the Protecting Georgia Small Businesses Act by Gov. Nathan Deal. AAHOA, the largest hotel owners association in the world with more than 800 members in Georgia and over 15,000 nationwide, strongly supported the bill’s provisions that help protect franchisees from federal government overreach.
“We are very grateful for the efforts of the bill’s author Sen. John Albers and the General Assembly in passing these impactful bill and we thank Gov. Deal for signing it into law,” said AAHOA President and CEO Chip Rogers. “This bill will protect the success of the franchise model for hoteliers and all small business owners and allow them to continue to expand and create jobs for their communities.”
The bill specifies that a franchisee’s employees are not also the employees of the franchisor under Georgia law, an important and historical distinction that has recently been eroded by the federal government. According to the International Franchise Association, there are more than 32,000 franchised establishments in Georgia which have combined to create 338,400 jobs in the state.
AAHOA member and hotel franchisee Manish Jariwala from Norcross, Georgia, commented, “The franchise system has given my family the opportunity to own and operate our own small business and providing our community with family-supporting jobs. With this bill, Georgia is sending a clear message that small businesses of all types—and the jobs they create—are valued in this state.”
The franchise model has come under attack by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), who issued a ruling last year and has another case pending that could result in franchisors becoming legally responsible for an individual franchisee’s employees—a massive new legal liability for the franchisor that will upend the decades-old standards for determining a joint employer.
