On February 6, 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Temporary Workers Bill of Rights. This legislation will, among other things, guarantee that temps get the same pay and benefits as regular employees, and contains a novel anti-retaliation provision.
The Legislature made it clear why this law was passed:
The Legislature finds and declares:
a. At least 127,000 individuals work for temporary help service firms, sometimes referred to as temp agencies or staffing agencies, in New Jersey. Approximately 100 temporary help service firms with several branch offices are licensed throughout the State. Moreover, there are a large, though unknown, number of unlicensed temporary help service firms that operate outside the purview of law enforcement.
b. Recent national data indicate that the share of Black and Latino temporary and staffing workers far outstrips their proportion of the workforce in general. In addition to a heavy concentration in service occupations, temporary laborers are heavily concentrated in the production, transportation, and material moving occupations and manufacturing industries. Further, full-time temporary help service firm workers earn percent less than workers in traditional work arrangements, and these workers are far less likely than other workers to receive employer-sponsored retirement and health benefits.
c. Recent studies and a survey of low-wage temporary laborers themselves find that, generally, these workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse of their labor rights, including unpaid wages, failure to pay for all hours worked, minimum wage and overtime violations, unsafe working conditions, unlawful deductions from pay for meals, transportation, equipment, and other items, as well as discriminatory practices.
P.L. 2023, c.10, Sec. 1
But the new law is not as broad as you might think. Only workers in certain fields–transportation, logistics, martial handling, maintenance, janitorial, food service, security, construction, personal services, landscaping, and production workers–are covered. The legislation originally covered all temps, but after fierce lobbying, was cut back to a limited list, and to expressly exclude professional and clerical workers.
Most of the new law goes into effect in August, but two provisions come into force in May: One requires that temps be given a written statement specifying the rate of pay, location, duties, name of client, and other information abut each assignment, and the second prohibits retaliation.
And, the anti-retaliation provision contains a novel presumption: If a temporary worker is fired or disciplined within 90 days of using rights under the law or complaining about their rights being violated, it is unlawful retaliation, unless the employer can rebut that presumption through presenting evidence of a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason for the action.
