If you’re running a staffing agency in New Jersey, you’re likely aware of the new Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights that takes full effect on August 5, 2023. Some parts of the law go into effect on May 7, 2023. In order to comply with the new Bill of Rights, it’s important to understand what your responsibilities are as an employer of temporary workers. Here, we discuss the things you need to ensure you do in order to stay within the realm of these new laws.

Notices

Only some temporary workers are protected under this new Bill of Rights. Because of this, all temporary workers are required to have a classification given to them, both for their own knowledge of how the Bill of Rights affects them and yours. The following are the notices you are required to give your temporary workers:

  • “…a written statement in English and the employee’s primary language containing the specific, itemized information regarding the terms and conditions of the engagement on a form approved by the state Department of Labor” (Jackson Lewis). Here, you must clarify how the person can accept or decline the position (for example, whether they need to come in person to confirm or can call over the phone). This notice must be given on the first day of the assignment.
  • A minimum of 48 hours written notice is required for any change in “schedule, shift, or location in a multi-day assignment.”
  • If a worker requests it, you must provide a written notice that said worker was available on a day they were not assigned work by your staffing agency.
  • If there is a labor dispute happening at a site, like a strike or a walkout, you must provide workers with written notice. These workers then have the right to refuse their assignment.

Keeping Records

The following requirements are now laws regarding recordkeeping. Each record must be kept for at least six years. If anyone requests to see a record, you have five days to make it available to them, assuming they have proper authorization to see said record. 

  • Contact information of the third-party clients you are contracted with, including name, telephone number, and address, along with every site temporary workers were sent to.
  • “The date of the transaction”.
  • “The name, address, specific location sent to work, type of work performed, the number of hours worked, the hourly rate of pay, and the date sent for each temporary laborer. All this information must be sent to the temporary help service firm by the third-party client no later than seven days following the last day of the workweek worked by the temporary laborer.”
  • Information, including names and titles, of those at each third-party who were responsible for these transactions.
  • Detailed records of any deductions taken from the temporary worker’s pay.
  • The number of hours billed to a third-party client for hours worked for each individual worker.

Payment & Hour Requirements

In regards to payment of temporary workers and the hours they are assigned/given to work, the following are now required.

  • Itemized paychecks that detail where the worker labored, for how many hours at each location, and the kind of work they did. You must also include the pay rate for each job and itemize any deductions taken from the total payment.
  • Each worker receives an annual earnings statement each year no later than February 1. 
  • “If the temporary laborer works only a single day, the third-party client must provide the laborer a work verification form at the end of the workday. This form must contain the date, the temporary laborer’s name, the work location, and the hours worked on that day.”
  • If you send a laborer to a worksite as contracted by a third-party client, but the worker is not needed or utilized that day, they must still be paid for at least four hours of work. However, you can send unneeded workers to other sites for the day, but they must be paid for at least two hours of work in this instance.
  • Third-party clients are legally allowed to offer permanent positions to your temporary workers if they feel so inclined.
  • Your temporary laborers must be paid the same as an average worker doing the same job in a permanent position.
  • It’s likely you pay your workers daily, but if you do, they can request to be paid on a less frequent basis and you must oblige.
  • Deductions to a temporary worker’s paycheck cannot cause their hourly earnings to drop below federal or state minimum wage.

Transportation Regulations

New transportation regulations are now in place as well.

  • You cannot charge a worker for the cost of transportation to their site of work every day.
  • If a worker is transported to a location for their job each day, the third-party client must transport them back to where they started at the end of the workday.
  • Additional regulations in the Bill of Rights mandate that if you, the employer of the temporary worker, are responsible for this transportation, then the vehicles used must be in safe working condition.

No Retaliation Permitted

Temporary workers receive huge protections under the new Bill of Rights, which means as an employer, you cannot retaliate against them if they lodge a complaint or report that you are not following these laws. 

Registration

Firms hiring temporary workers are now required to be registered with the commissioner.

Consider how these new laws will affect your business and ensure you make the appropriate changes necessary to stay on the right side of the law.