boilerplate Etymology, origin and meaning of boilerplate by etymonline

Boilerplate text is normally inserted into a contract by the creator of the contract, who does not allow the other party to the contract to alter it. For this reason, boilerplate typically favors the interests of the contract creator. The term boilerplate language dates back to the 19th century, when steel plates were used as templates to create steam boilers. This application of the term was used in the legal profession in the mid-1950s to describe how companies used fine print to get around the law. Another example of a boilerplate is the fine print that appears on many contracts. This section is usually static, as is the case with many cell phone contracts.

  • To further your overall understanding of the word boilerplate, let’s open up your handy-dandy thesaurus to review a few synonyms and antonyms.
  • A boilerplate statement is a standard statement commonly issued by companies.
  • Not only has the Board historically defined “joint employer” through case-by-case adjudication, section 6 of the Act provides clear authority to the Board to promulgate rules to “carry out the provisions of [the] Act.” 29 U.S.C. 156.
  • As mentioned elsewhere, while we acknowledge some commenters’ position that the 2020 rule fostered greater predictability and certainty in the Board’s joint-employer determinations, we have determined that rule is not in accordance with the common-law agency principles we are bound to apply in analyzing whether entities are joint employers under the Act.
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In this section, we provide a summary overview of changes to the proposed rule. Boilerplate language is widely used, standard clauses or provisions that are often found at the end of a contract or in the contract’s fine print. The use of boilerplate also cuts down on the number of mistakes in a contract, since a firm what is negative goodwill and its accounting treatment can lock down the text in a boilerplate section. Doing so minimizes the risk of any errors being introduced into the boilerplate text. Boilerplate can also be used to increase the efficiency of the contract-writing process, so that attorneys only have to focus on a few key parts of a contract that vary from the norm.

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Our dissenting colleague also takes the position that the final rule will frustrate bargaining and undermine the policies of the Act favoring the resolution of labor disputes and the promotion of stable bargaining relationships. In this regard, he offers several hypotheticals that he suggests illustrate the potential for the final rule to be applied in a manner that will frustrate effective collective bargaining by extending joint-employer obligations to entities whose control over terms and conditions of employment is too attenuated to warrant their participation in bargaining. It offers no greater certainty or predictability than adjudication, and it will not reduce litigation, because it expressly contemplates that joint-employer status will be determined through adjudication under the common law, not under the provisions of the final rule, in most if not all cases.

The joint-employer analysis set forth in this final rule is based on common-law agency principles as applied in the particular context of the Act. In our considered view, the joint-employer standard that we adopt today removes artificial control-based restrictions with no foundation in the common law that the Board has previously imposed in cases beginning in the mid-1980s discussed above, and in the 2020 rule. The Board also believes that setting forth a revised joint-employer standard through rulemaking is desirable. The NPRM offered a proposal to restore the Board’s focus on whether a putative joint employer possesses the authority to control or exercises the power to control particular employees’ essential terms and conditions of employment, consistent with the common law and relevant judicial decisions. The Board received many helpful comments from individuals and entities with considerable legal expertise and relevant experience. Having considered those comments, the Board has refined the proposed rule in several ways, as outlined above in Section II and discussed more fully below in Sections IV and V. We believe the proposed rule, as modified, appropriately defines the essential elements of a joint-employer relationship and will reduce uncertainty and litigation over the basic parameters of joint-employer status.

The 2020 Rule was not inconsistent with the majority of Board precedent addressing joint-employer status under the Act. The main concern with boilerplate text is that it is not tailored to the specific requirements of the parties to a contract. This means that some clauses could differ from the intentions of the parties, making it more difficult to enforce certain aspects of the contract. In business, boilerplate can also refer to lengthy, recurring commands in computer code. Even though some wording is boilerplate, it is nonetheless part of the contract and you should assume it is relevant.

Boilerplates are a big part of the corporate and information technology sectors. These tools help save time and money, allowing text and documents to be created for use over and over again. For instance, the fine print or boilerplate clause is found on legal contracts while boilerplates are standard messages found in press releases. While they do serve a purpose, it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t skim over these sections if you ever come across them. A boilerplate clause is a standard section in a contract that is found at the end or bottom of the document. This clause normally outlines certain conditions enforced to which parties must adhere, including when a contract is broken and how any problems and disputes are resolved.

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However, we believe that the modifications to the text of the proposed rule, along with the comprehensive responses we offer in response to the helpful input we received during the public-comment process, will facilitate parties covered by the Act in understanding and meeting their compliance obligations and reduce uncertainty and litigation. (c) To “share or codetermine those matters governing employees’ essential terms and conditions of employment” means for an employer to possess the authority to control (whether directly, indirectly, or both), or to exercise the power to control (whether directly, indirectly, or both), one or more of the employees’ essential terms and conditions of employment. The guidance furnished by the final rule will enable regulated parties to determine in advance whether their actions are likely to result in a joint-employer finding, which may result in a duty to bargain collectively, exposure to what would otherwise be unlawful secondary union activity, and unfair labor practice liability. Accordingly, a final rule setting forth a comprehensive and detailed standard is important to businesses covered by the NLRA, employees of those businesses, and labor organizations that represent or seek to represent those employees. The final rule accomplishes these objectives by defining critical elements of the joint-employer standard and by enumerating the factors that will determine whether an entity is a joint employer.

Entries linking to boilerplate

The 2020 Rule recognized that certain other forms of control and authority to control play an appropriately limited role in the joint-employer analysis. But those types of control could tend to support a finding of joint-employer status “only to the extent [they] supplement[ed] and reinforce[d] evidence of the entity’s possession or exercise of direct and immediate control over a particular essential term and condition of employment.” Id. As discussed above, the Board has modified this provision from the version set forth in the NPRM by clarifying that, in every case, the object of a common-law employer’s control that is relevant to the question of whether it is also a joint employer under the Act must be an essential term and condition of employment as defined in § 103.40(d). The version of § 103.40(e) that appears in the final rule is reformatted to include two subsections and has been streamlined to avoid surplusage.

Disadvantages of Boilerplate

A boilerplate statement is a standard statement commonly issued by companies. This statement is fairly generic and can be altered slightly to fit a specific purpose, such as an email response to a media inquiry or to a consumer complaint. As such, boilerplate statements are commonly found in press releases, the About Us section on a corporate website, or in written communications.

A. The Regulatory Flexibility Act

More importantly, my colleagues erroneously deem irrelevant (for purposes of a regulatory flexibility analysis) certain direct costs of compliance that the rule imposes on small businesses. The final rule will transform many small businesses that were not joint employers under the 2020 Rule into joint employers, with an entirely new duty to engage in collective bargaining. Second, small businesses whose joint-employer status has been changed by the final rule and that contract with an employer whose employees are unionized will be required to participate in collective bargaining, as mandated by new Section 103.40(h). The joint-employer doctrine plays an important role in the administration of the Act. The doctrine determines when an entity that exercises control over particular employees’ essential terms and conditions of employment has a duty to bargain with those employees’ representative. It also determines such an entity’s potential liability for unfair labor practices.

What Are Translations of Boilerplate?

Businesses now use boilerplate clauses in contracts, purchase agreements, and other formal documents. Boilerplate clauses are designed to protect businesses from making errors or legal mistakes in the language. The term boilerplate refers to standardized text, copy, documents, methods, or procedures that may be used over again without making major changes to the original. A boilerplate is commonly used for efficiency and to increase standardization in the structure and language of written or digital documents. In the field of contract law, documents contain boilerplate language, which is a language that is considered generic or standard in contracts.

In my view, retaining the 2020 Rule would better promote the policies of the Act and public policy generally. But in this section of my dissent, I have barely scratched the surface of the adverse consequences that predictably will flow from the final rule, consequences that commenters have brought to the Board’s attention, to no avail. One of these commenters specifically observes that provisions that do no more than memorialize parties’ existing obligations to adhere to legally imposed minimum standards should not be material to the existence of a common-law employment relationship.