Regarding debts and obligations incurred while operating a Brightstar Care agency, does Brightstar Care share any responsibility with the franchisee?
Brightstar_Care Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
gistered Nurse). If you operate more than one Agency, we reserve the right to require a full-time registered nurse, as well as additional nursing resources, to fulfill the nurse oversight requirements for the client count based on their acuity. 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, adjustments of grievances and complaints, and working conditions. Agency employees are exclusively under your control at the Agency. We will not, directly or indirectly, exercise or reserve control over employment and personnel matters and decisions involving your Agency's employees. You must communicate clearly with Agency employees in your employment agreements, human resource manuals, written and electronic correspondence, paychecks, and other materials that you (and only you) are their employer and that we, as the franchisor of BrightStar Agencies, 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.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 117–118)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Brightstar Care's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the franchisee bears sole responsibility for debts and obligations incurred while operating their agency. Brightstar Care does not assume any direct or indirect control over employment and personnel matters related to the franchisee's agency employees.
The FDD emphasizes that the franchisee has exclusive control over their agency's employees, including aspects like selection, promotion, termination, pay rates, benefits, and working conditions. Brightstar Care explicitly states that it will not exercise control over these employment and personnel decisions.
To ensure clarity, Brightstar Care requires franchisees to communicate to their employees, through various means such as employment agreements and paychecks, that the franchisee is their sole employer and that Brightstar Care, as the franchisor, is not their employer or joint employer. Franchisees must also obtain acknowledgment from all agency employees confirming this understanding. This arrangement is typical in franchising, where franchisees operate as independent business owners.