Advocacy by ASA and the Rhode Island Staffing Association, an ASA-affiliated chapter, helped persuade state lawmakers to put legislation on hold that would have imposed new regulatory burdens on businesses that use contract labor.
Rhode Island bill S 139 would make any employer or organization that obtains workers through a subcontractor, staffing organization, or other labor contractor legally liable if that labor contractor violates any of the payment-of-wages laws under Title 28 of the Rhode Island General Laws.
ASA and RISA submitted testimony outlining the staffing industry’s objections to the bill. They argued that the bill was redundant and unnecessary because users of contract labor have long been responsible as joint, special, or secondary employers under a wide range of federal and Rhode Island state labor and employment laws covering every aspect of the employment relationship whenever the user firm directs and controls the work performed by the contract employees.
A coalition of Rhode Island businesses also objected to the bill, arguing that it would penalize users of contract labor even if they had no knowledge of any violation of the wage payment laws.
Faced with unified business opposition, the senate labor committee referred the bill for study, effectively killing it for the year. If lawmakers revisit the subject again during the 2022 legislative session, ASA and RISA will renew their objections.
The Form I-9 is a complicated two-page document that is accompanied by a 65-page handbook explaining how to complete it. There are many facets of I-9 completion that are unique to staffing firms. E-Verify is an Internet-based system maintained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that allows businesses to verify the work eligibility of employees. The American Staffing Association offers this document to address the Form I-9 and E-Verify issues that staffing firms face most frequently. More ›
Staffing firm clients have increasingly adopted policies limiting the length of assignment of staffing firm workers as way to protect against the kind of “retro-benefits” claims faced by Microsoft. Some client policies appear to be based on the erroneous belief that, after working for a certain period of time, staffing firm employees are automatically eligible for coverage under the client’s benefits plans. To help dispel some of the common misperceptions, ASA has developed an issue paper that discusses the basic principles of law that apply to employee benefit plans and the steps clients can take to avoid retro-benefits exposure. More ›
This agreement is to be used when a staffing firm supplies assigned workers to the client on a temporary basis to supplement the client’s work force. The assigned workers will work under the direction, control, and supervision of the client. In addition to dealing with liability and indemnification issues, it contains a comprehensive set of basic operational terms and conditions. More ›
This form is used when a client desires technical services to be performed on the staffing firm’s premises by employees of the staffing firm. It states that the assigned workers are employees of the staffing firm, paid by the staffing firm, and all matters concerning wages, expenses, hours worked and paid, working conditions, and other similar administrative matters shall be resolved between the assigned worker and the staffing firm. More ›
Staffing Legal Reference Books No staffing firm should be without these essential legal desk references published by ASA. More ›
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