Defenders of the practice argue that the restaurants spend time and money training workers and want to protect their investment. Professor Krueger and Professor Ashenfelter examined 156 companies in 21 industries, selecting businesses with more than 500 franchise stores in the United States. The report’s tally also included McDonald’s, which for at least 30 years had prohibited franchisees from hiring one another’s workers. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. He estimated that he had drafted hundreds of franchise agreements, many of which contained some kind of recruitment prohibition.

Source: New York Times September 27, 2017 18:07 UTC