Department of Labor sends warning shot to clients of temp staffing agencies
Source: W Post
By Lydia DePillis
The Department of Labor thinks more companies should take responsibility for their contracted workforces, and it’s just told them exactly how and when.
If there’s one trend that’s characterized the changing American workforce more than any other in recent decades, it’s been the fracturing of the employment relationship, as companies focus on their “core competencies” and pay other businesses to do everything else.
Subcontracting, outsourcing, and the use of staffing agencies allows businesses to inexpensively scale up and scale down their labor needs, without the extra hassle and liability of adding payroll. But it also adds another layer between workers and the bosses who call the shots, shielding managers from responsibility when the labor provider doesn’t follow the law.
Department of Labor’ Wage and Hour Division director David Weil, a former business school professor, calls this trend “fissuring.” He thinks lots of those client companies should really be considered “joint employers,” together with the contractors that sign the checks, making them liable for violations. And Wednesday, his department issued detailed guidance drawing the categories in black and white, sending a message to employers that they had better fall on the right side.
FULL story at link.
Job seekers DeAnn Morneau, from left, Keith Welsh and Crystal Griffin fill out applications for temporary or temp-to-hire positions during a 2011 job fair. (Ariana Lindquist/Bloomberg)
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/20/department-of-labor-sends-warning-shot-to-clients-of-temp-staffing-agencies/
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Filed in DOL, Wage Enforcement By David Weil on January 20, 2016
Protecting workers in fissured workplaces – where there is increasingly the possibility that more than one employer is benefiting from their work – has been a major focus for the Wage and Hour Division in recent years. The Wage and Hour Division has always examined employment relationships during its investigations into possible wage and other labor violations, and the agency considers joint employment in hundreds of investigations every year.
While we devote significant resources to enforcing labor standards in order to protect the rights of workers, we also have a commitment to engage with and educate employers so they know about their responsibilities and can operate in compliance with the laws that we are tasked to uphold. That’s why today – consistent with that commitment – we’ve issued guidance on joint employment in the form of an administrator’s interpretation.
What is joint employment?
In a nutshell, joint employment exists when a person is employed by two or more employers such that the employers are responsible, both individually and jointly, for compliance with a statute.
The Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act share the same definition of employment. This definition, which includes “to suffer or permit to work,” was written to have as broad an application as possible. Under these laws, it is possible for a worker to be jointly employed by two or more employers who are both responsible, simultaneously, for compliance. It is a longstanding principle under both the FLSA and MSPA that an employee can have two or more employers for the work that he or she is performing.
