A Law360 article titled “New Jersey Laws Attorneys Need to Know in 2024” discusses three new bills that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed into law, including a controversial new wage requirement for temporary workers.
The Temporary Workers Bill of Rights mandates that temporary workers in the Garden State be paid the same as permanent workers at the same company who do substantially similar work.
Multiple staffing agencies are challenging the law, contending that it will hamper their ability to do business, while the government has maintained that the law is a constitutional labor protection. The case is now before the Third Circuit after a lower federal court refused to block it as unconstitutional.
Whichever way the Third Circuit rules on the Temporary Workers Bill of Rights, it will have major implications for competition in the labor market.
While the law certainly provides significant protections and benefits for temporary employees covered by the law, there are questions as to the long-term consequences to temporary workers. On the one hand, the law may ultimately result in the competitive market raising overall salaries for temporary workers, but on the other hand, the law could also result in the demand for temporary workers to decline, with the potential for many of those temporary positions to disappear.
The full article can be read at Law360 (subscription required).