In an OpEd this week on northjersey.com, Sen. Holly Schepisi joined NJBIA in stating how a well-intentioned temp worker bill that is currently stalled with the Legislature would crush New Jersey staffing agencies and take away jobs from the temp workers it aims to protect.
“The staffing industry is a major contributor to New Jersey’s economy, helping place more than 500,000 people annually into jobs through an estimated 1,150 staffing and temp agency offices across the state,” Schepisi wrote.
“Staffing and temp agency employees support nearly 100,000 workers each week who work in temporary roles where they can earn paychecks and support the needs of thousands of businesses across the broad spectrum of industries that make up the Garden State economy.
“The entire temporary work ecosystem is now at risk of having onerous new requirements and unfair liabilities placed upon it through legislation.”
Bill A-1474 seeks to establish a temporary workers bill of rights.
It would require temporary work agencies to provide contracted temporary workers with information such as job location, compensation and other terms in English and the temp workers’ primary language.
But the bill also requires temporary workers to be paid the average compensation rate and the cash equivalent of the average cost of benefits paid to their employee counterparts.
NJBIA’s Vice President of Government Affairs Alexis Bailey said that provision is as “unworkable,” as it is costly.
The bill was pulled from a Senate vote on Oct. 18, due to waning support. But it will likely be rescheduled for a vote in the Senate on Nov. 21.
In her OpEd, Schepisi said she is proposing an alternative bill that would address the sponsor’s transparency and transportation concerns, but “without putting the entire temporary work industry or our New Jersey economy at risk.”
“What I’ve proposed is an equitable, reasonable, and achievable alternative that can end the logjam in Trenton and provide temporary workers the increased protections they deserve,” she wrote.
To see Schepisi’s OpEd, click here.
To see NJBIA’s efforts on the bill, click here.
