Labor Advocates Push for Temp Agency Regulation Face Strong Industry Opposition
BOSTON/State House - Supporters and opponents of a bill that would change the way temporary agencies do business in Massachusetts squared off in front of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on Thursday in Gardiner Auditorium at the State House. Advocates for the Act Updating and Streamlining the Employment Agency Law (House Bill 1393) - which they dub the “Reform Employment Agency Law” or the “REAL bill" - made the case that bottom feeders in the temp industry are operating outside existing labor law and exploiting workers due to a lack of regulation. Spearheaded by the Massachusetts Coalition on Safety and Health, MassCOSH, a group of labor and community organizations calling themselves the REAL Coalition is working to change a situation that they say has led to multiple wage, health, safety and unemployment crises for low-wage temp workers and denied the Commonwealth of significant amounts of workers’ compensation and other state employment taxes.
Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of MassCOSH, said, “Temp workers across the state, the Attorney General and even the temporary agencies concur that there are serious abuses that need to be addressed that harm workers, business and the state economy. This bill proposes very practical ways to provide workers and enforcement agencies the tools they need to protect basic worker rights.”
The bill’s detractors, led by the temp industry lobby group Mass. Staffing Association disagreed.
Bob Siemering, president of the MSA, said, “The Massachusetts Staffing Association, along with hundreds of staffing firm owners and employees in the state, is opposed to House Bill 1393 because it would destroy tens of thousands of jobs, make it illegal for staffing and recruiting firms to fill jobs, and balloon black market operators. Massachusetts already has all the legal tools it needs to protect employees from abusive employers. Instead of adding yet another law that bad actors will continue to ignore, the state should step up its enforcement of existing employment laws that already protect workers' rights.
The temp industry is especially concerned about the changes the bill would make to the current professional employment agency licensing process - which advocates say is easily circumvented by the vast majority of temp agencies since temp agencies are not covered under the law. Professional employment agencies - generally more upmarket businesses like modelling agencies - currently have to pay a $3,000 fee for a license and send in regular paperwork for the Department of Labor Standards… while temp agencies are unlicensed and subject to no DLS oversight. If passed, the bill would reclassify all temp agencies as professional employment agencies and require all such agencies to register their businesses with the DLS for a small fee.
Advocates say that once registered, it will be much easier for the DLS to ensure that all temp agencies are properly regulated and that they are held accountable to state and federal labor laws.
In addition, the advocates want the Bay State to follow the lead of Illinois - a state that passed a law that requires temp agencies to provide a one page sheet to temp workers for every assignment that gives them basic information about their assignment and pay rate.
Goldstein-Gelb said, “The bill is unfortunately being wildly misunderstood or misrepresented by some in the industry. For example if you look at one website, it completely neglects to mention that the entire professional, technical and scientific categories of workers are completely exempt. The interest of everyone in the coalition is to impact and address abuses facing blue collar workers - which also hurts blue collar law-abiding employers.
“The notion that providing a one page job order is a burden is a red herring. It's already provided in Illinois, the unions testified that they already give this information when they have hiring halls - and it's absolutely essential for temporary workers.”
Both sides of the debate over the REAL bill feel positive about their chances for success, and the ball is now in the court of the Joint Committee. If they vote in favor of the bill it will advance to the House Ways and Means Committee for further debate. If not, it will likely die in committee for this legislative session - as happened to an earlier version of the bill in the last session.
Siemering felt especially sanguine about pulling out a win for temp agencies and defeating the REAL bill, “The staffing industry's turnout at Thursday's hearing before the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development was unprecedented. Well over 100 industry representatives testified against the bill. It was apparent from committee members' questions at the hearing that the bill's sponsors didn't understand how staffing firms help people find jobs by matching candidates to clients and that they weren't fully aware of the harm the legislation would cause. We believe a clear message was sent that HB 1393 is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unwise. Massachusetts needs more jobs, not more employment laws.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Jason Pramas was active in the Massachusetts, national and international movements to win improved wages, benefits, and labor rights for workers in temp and other contingent jobs from 1996-2005. He is former executive director of the Campaign on Contingent Work and former director of its sucessor organization Massachusetts Global Action - and was a founder of the North American Alliance for Fair Employment.
