Murphy signs temp workers bill into law

Just days after it passed the Senate and went to his desk, Gov. Phil Murphy Feb. 6 signed legislation known as the “Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights” into law.

As NJBIZ reported, the bill – Senate Bill 511/Assembly Bill 1474 – faced a rollercoaster ride before finally reaching Murphy’s desk. The governor had conditionally vetoed the measure in the fall, calling for some technical tweaks. The Assembly quickly passed a revised version, but the Senate delayed its vote several times, before the bill finally – and narrowly – crossed the finish line Thursday with the Senate voting 21-16 for its passage.

The temp industry is a growing one in the Garden State, fueled in large part by the boom in warehouse and e-commerce space, with estimates of at least 127,000 people working for some 100 licensed such companies — and many more working for unlicensed entities outside of regulators’ purview.

The newly established law expands the rights and protections afforded to temporary workers and imposes certain requirements for temp agencies.

Companies would be prohibited from charging excessive fees and be required to meet a minimum wage threshold. They would also be required to disclose to the temp laborer – in their primary language – details on the work to be performed, including a description of the position, wages, terms of transportation and the length of the assignment, while spelling out hourly wages and deductions.

It also calls for firms to register with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development and bars third-party clients from employing temporary laborers through an unregistered firm.

Perhaps most notably, the law protects temp laborers from retaliation for exercising any rights under the measure.

“Our temporary workers, regardless of their race or status, are key contributors to the workforce in our state,” said Murphy. “Signing the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights establishes necessary guidelines for temporary help service firms and third-party clients to ensure that these workers are afforded basic protections and treated with the dignity they deserve.”

“Every worker should be treated with respect and dignity,” said Department of Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “Thanks to the Murphy Administration and the Legislature, temporary workers will now have additional tools available to secure the fair wages and protections they are entitled to under the law – yet another advancement strengthening New Jersey as the gold standard for worker protections and development.”

Murphy credited the efforts of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Joe Cryan, D-20, and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, D-19, and the many workers’ rights advocates who championed it for their leadership and tireless efforts on this issue.

“Temporary workers will now have equal rights in the workplace. This is an invisible workforce that will now be protected against the abuses of unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, unlawful deductions, and other forms of mistreatment,” said Cryan. “This Bill of Rights honors the core American values for hard work and dignity by ensuring that the growing number of temporary workers have their workplaces safe, wages paid for work completed, and most importantly, know that the law will protect them. In New Jersey, we respect all workers, and we expect them to be treated fairly. This bill helps us achieve that goal.”

Lopez said that the signing of the bill represents a historic victory for labor rights for the state’s more than 130,000 temporary workers and their families.

“Temporary workers have been treated differently for far too long and have been forced to deal with a multitude of injustices all while carrying out essential work and trying to provide for their families,” said Lopez. “The law will ensure temporary workers are finally protected and will create a safer and fairer temporary labor sector in New Jersey.”

A new chapter

Richard Smith, NAACP New Jersey State Conference president, said the passage of this bill is long overdue.

“Black temp workers in particular face serious discrimination and rarely see the types of wage raises and access to benefits that their direct-hire counterparts enjoy,” said Smith. “The Temp Workers’ Bill of Rights addresses this widespread race-based discrimination and exploitation by providing key protections.”

Janeth Caicedo, member leader of Make the Road New Jersey, which helped spearhead the advocacy effort, said that this historic legislation is the result of organizing led by temp workers across the Garden State. She said that she was inspired to take up the cause after losing her brother to a workplace accident in 2019 while he worked for an unlicensed temp agency.

“Too many temp workers have lost their lives on the job or been subject to wage theft or retaliation. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter where temp workers will have the respect, dignity and safety they deserve,” said Caicedo.

“Elevating the employment standards of temporary workers will reform the temporary staffing industry and address unscrupulous business practices like wage theft, pay discrimination, and unsafe working conditions that hurt all workers,” said New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech.

As NJBIZ reported, many business groups, such as the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, felt the measure went too far.

“NJBIA has always appreciated the intent of this bill. However, we have repeatedly warned that at least one key provision of it would so greatly drive up the cost of utilizing temp agencies, that it would jeopardize legitimate temp agencies, harm third-party businesses that use them, and, as a result, provide less opportunity for those seeking temporary employment,” said Alexis Bailey, NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs, following last week’s Senate vote.

Bailey noted that other states like Illinois and Massachusetts took steps to bring further protections and transparency without the provision that requires temporary workers to be paid the average compensation rate and benefits or the cash equivalent of the average cost of the benefits paid to their employee counterparts.

“But New Jersey, as is unfortunately typical, has gone a step too far to be an outlier in bringing as many burdens to business as possible,” said Bailey. “The staffing industry – a major contributor to New Jersey’s economy – will be worse off because of this bill. Employers will face even greater challenges as they seek to fill gaps in their workforce. Ultimately, the unintended consequences will hurt the very workers this bill seeks to protect.”