What due diligence is required of a Big Blue Swim School franchisee regarding their employees?
Big_Blue_Swim_School Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- (3) adequate staffing levels to operate the School in compliance with Brand Standards, appearance of School personnel, conducting criminal background checks and due diligence on the School's employees (although you alone will review the results and make employment decisions on the basis of those results), and courteous service to customers. However, you have sole responsibility and authority for your labor relations and employment practices, including, among other things, employee selection, promotion, termination, hours worked, rates of pay, benefits, work assigned, discipline, adjustment of grievances and complaints, and working conditions. School employees are exclusively
under your control at the School. You must communicate clearly with School employees in your employment agreements, human resources manuals, written and electronic correspondence, paychecks, and other materials that you (and only you) are their employer and that we, as the franchisor of BIG BLUE Swim Schools, and our affiliates are not their employer or joint employer and do not engage in any employer-type activities (including those described above) for which only franchisees are responsible. You must obtain an acknowledgment (in the form we specify or approve) from all School employees that you (and not we or our affiliates) are their employer;
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 75–76)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Big Blue Swim School's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are required to conduct criminal background checks and due diligence on their employees. However, the franchisee has the sole responsibility of reviewing the results and making employment decisions.
Big Blue Swim School franchisees are responsible for all labor relations and employment practices, including employee selection, promotion, termination, hours worked, rates of pay, benefits, work assigned, discipline, adjustment of grievances and complaints, and working conditions. The FDD emphasizes that Big Blue Swim School, as the franchisor, is not the employer or joint employer of the franchisee's employees.
To ensure clarity, Big Blue Swim School franchisees must communicate to their employees, through various means such as employment agreements and paychecks, that the franchisee is their sole employer and that Big Blue Swim School is not involved in employment-related activities. Franchisees must also obtain an acknowledgment from all employees confirming this understanding, in a form specified or approved by Big Blue Swim School.