What Employers Need to Know About the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights Enacted This Week

What Employers Need to Know About the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights Enacted This Week

New Jersey’s latest employment law establishes new legal protections for temporary workers and will significantly impact temporary help service firms and the businesses that rely on them...

Yesterday, Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights into law. New Jersey’s latest employment law establishes new legal protections for temporary workers and will significantly impact temporary help service firms and the businesses that rely on them.

Background of New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights

New Jersey is home to at least 127,000 temporary laborers. There are approximately 100 temporary help service firms (better known as “temp agencies”) with several branch offices licensed throughout New Jersey.

The New Jersey Legislature first approved the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (Senate Bill 511/Assembly Bill 1474) this past summer. However, business interest groups raised serious concerns about the burdens placed on temp agencies and their clients. In September, Gov. Phil Murphy issued a conditional veto. Among other recommended changes, Gov. Murphy directed the Legislature to “hone the definition of temporary laborers to more clearly delineate the occupations covered by the bill, tailoring the application of the bill to those positions in the workforce at greatest risk of exploitation.” The Legislature approved the amended legislation on February 2, 2023, and Gov. Murphy signed it into law on February 6, 2023.

Key Requirements of Senate Bill 511/Assembly Bill 1474

The Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights imposes several new obligations on temporary help service firms and third party clients of those entities. Under the new law, a “temporary help service firm” is a business that employs individuals directly or indirectly for the purpose of assigning the employed individuals to assist the firm’s customers in the handling of the customers’ temporary, excess or special workloads. In addition to the payment of wages or salaries to the employed individuals, such entities also pay federal social security taxes and State and federal unemployment insurance; carry workers’ compensation insurance as required by State law; and sustain responsibility for the actions of the employed individuals while they render services to the firm’s customers.

As amended in accordance with Gov. Murphy’s conditional veto, the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights does not apply to all temporary workers. Rather, the term “temporary laborer” means a person who contracts for employment in a “designated classification placement” with a temporary help service firm. The definition of “designated classification placement” covers the following occupational categories as designated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics: 33-90000 Other Protective Service Workers; 35-0000 Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations; 37-220000 Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations; 39-0000 Personal Care and Service Occupations; 47-2060 Construction Laborers; 47-30000 Helpers, Construction Trades; 49-0000 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations; 51-0000 Production Occupations; 53-0000 Transportation and Material Moving Occupations. Additionally, the law expressly excludes professional employees and employees who are secretaries or administrative assistants.

When the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights law does apply, the new requirements are onerous, and the penalties for noncompliance are significant. Below is a brief summary of several other key provisions of the new law:

Pay and Benefits

Any temporary laborer assigned to work at a third party client in a designated classification placement may not be paid less than the average rate of pay and average cost of benefits, or the cash equivalent thereof, of employees of the third party client performing the same or substantially similar work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions for the third party client at the time the temporary laborer is assigned to work at the third party client.

Minimum Compensation

If a temporary laborer is contracted by a temporary help service firm to work at a third party client’s worksite but is not utilized, the temporary help service firm must pay the worker for a minimum of four hours of pay at the agreed upon rate of pay. However, in the event the temporary help service firm contracts the temporary laborer to work at another location during the same shift, the worker must be paid for a minimum of two hours.

Wage Notice Requirements

Wage notices must be provided to temporary laborers in writing in English and in the language identified by the worker as their primary language. The form must include the following information:

• The name of the temporary laborer;
• The name, address, and telephone number of: the temporary help service firm, or the contact information of the firm’s agent facilitating the placement; its workers’ compensation carrier; the worksite employer or third party client; and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development;
• The name and nature of the work to be performed;
• The wages offered;
• The name and address of the assigned worksite of each temporary laborer;
• The terms of transportation offered to the temporary laborer, if applicable;
• A description of the position and whether it requires any special clothing, protective equipment, and training, and what training and clothing will be provided by the temporary help service firm or the third party client; and any licenses and any costs charged to the employee for supplies or training;
• Whether a meal or equipment, or both, are provided, either by the temporary help service firm or the third party client, and the cost of the meal and equipment, if any;
• For multi-day assignments, the schedule; the length of the assignment, if known; and
• The amount of sick leave to which temporary workers are entitled, and the terms of its use.

Wage Disclosures and Deductions

The new law requires that, at the time of payment of wages, temporary help service firms must provide each temporary laborer with a detailed itemized statement on the temporary laborer’s paycheck stub. The information that must be provided includes:

• The name, address, and telephone number of each third-party client at which the temporary laborer worked during the pay period;
• The number of hours worked by the temporary laborer at each third-party client during the pay period;
• The rate of payment for each hour worked, including any premium rate or bonus;
• The total pay period earnings; and
• The amount of each deduction from the paycheck made either by the third-party client or the temporary help service firm with information as to why the deduction was made.

The Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights also prohibits a temporary help service firm from charging a temporary laborer a fee for transportation to or from a designated worksite, for conducting any consumer report, criminal background check or drug testing, and for cashing paychecks. It further provides that temporary laborers’ wages may not fall below the minimum wage after deductions are taken for meals and equipment.

Record Keeping Requirements

Temporary help service firms are required to keep certain records relating to their transactions with each temporary laborer the firm sends to perform temporary work, including the location of the work site, the type and number of hours of work performed, the hourly wage rate, copies of any contract with a third party client, and the amount of any deductions from the laborer’s compensation. Such records must be retained for six years from their creation. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development (commissioner) may inspect the records during normal business hours.

Anti-Retaliation Protections

The Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights makes it a violation for a temporary help service firm or third party client to retaliate through discharge or in any other manner against any temporary laborer for exercising any rights granted under the law. Further, the termination or disciplinary action by a temporary help service firm against a temporary laborer within 90 days of the person’s exercise of rights under the law raises a rebuttable presumption of having done so in retaliation for the exercise of those rights.

Private Right of Action

In addition to penalties for noncompliance, the law includes a private right of action. It specifically provides that a person aggrieved by a violation under the law by a temporary help service firm or a third party client may institute a civil action in the Superior Court. Additionally, a temporary help service firm may also institute a civil action in the Superior Court for alleged violations committed by a third party client .

Notably, third party clients and temporary help service firms are jointly and severally responsible for any violation of the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights. The law also expressly provides that an action can be brought by one or more temporary laborers on behalf of themselves and similarly situated workers, which means firms and their clients could face costly class-action lawsuits.  

Next Steps

The Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights does not take effect immediately, but most provisions take effect in 180 days. Nonetheless, temp agencies and companies that rely on them should begin the compliance process now. Many of the law’s new obligations, particularly the wage and notice requirements, will require new policies and procedures.

Working with experienced counsel can help ease compliance burdens, particularly in the arena of employment law. Scarinci Hollenbeck’s Labor & Employment Group is prepared to help New Jersey temporary agencies and employers navigate the new law, and we encourage you to contact us for assistance.

If you have questions, please contact us

For assistance with any needs your company may have regarding this recent development, please contact me, Arianna Mouré, at 201-896-4100.