'Unfair And Humiliating': NJ Temp Workers Deserve Better, Advocates Say

NEW JERSEY — Getting stiffed on overtime. Being forced to work grueling 12-hour shifts with nothing but a 30-minute lunch break. Sweating through double shifts in a warehouse with no air conditioning in the middle of summer. This is what it’s like to try and earn a living as a permanent “temp” worker, according to advocates.

There are more than 127,000 workers in New Jersey employed by temporary staffing agencies, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many of them are crucial to maintaining the supply chain up and down the Interstate 95 corridor, sweating in warehouses to unpack shipped goods and repackage them for consumers.

But for far too many of these workers, a typical day on the job includes abuse, wage theft, age discrimination and unsafe work conditions, according to Make the Road New Jersey and New Labor.

Earlier this month, the groups released a report dubbed “Essential and Unprotected: Temporary workers in New Jersey.” The report was based on interviews with dozens of workers employed by temp agencies in the warehouse and logistics and manufacturing sector in New Jersey conducted between 2020 and 2022. Read it here.

Many of the workers said “temporary” jobs are how they make their living year-round. Vincente R., whose last name was withheld in the report, said he’s worked for temp agencies for more than 16 years.

“People think temp work is temporary, but for workers like me, it is our primary form of employment,” he said.

STORIES FROM THE WORKPLACE

Make the Road New Jersey and New Labor shared statements from several temp workers, redacting their last names for privacy concerns.

They included:

Yadira G. – “I worked for more than 10 years for a perfume warehouse where I saw a lot of discrimination against agency workers. At this warehouse, temp workers and direct hires worked together. Direct hires earned more and had benefits. Temp workers didn’t have such benefits and we earned less than the direct hires. It was unfair because we did the same jobs. It was humiliating because the client firm made us do the hardest work … The client company does not want to pay us any sick day that we take. In fact, I was fired for being out when I was sick. It’s unfair because I have worked for many years and they don’t value the work we do. They consider us to be disposable.”

Nidia R. – “Since I arrived in this country I have worked, and currently, I work for a temp agency based in Elizabeth. It is always the same issue when it comes to transportation. Temp agencies charge us $55 a week to drive us to work, even if the warehouse is 10 minutes away from the agency. We come home with a paycheck that is less than minimum wage. On top of that, the transportation van is only for 12passengers, but the temp agencies cram 20 people into the van and we go on top of each other. During the pandemic, we were not provided with masks. When we complained, the agency told us, ‘It is what it is’ … Also, there are times when the transportation van takes us to the warehouse where we are supposed to work and when we enter, the warehouse says they didn’t ask for workers for that day. As soon as we find out, we call the temp agency so they can pick us up but they do not answer. We leave them a voicemail and we wait 3 to 4 hours to be picked up. Sometimes they don’t pick us up at all and we have to return home by our own means, losing a day of work and a day of pay.”

Eldipia G. – “I have seen and experienced many injustices while working for temp agencies, such as age discrimination and wage theft, when the agency doesn’t pay my full hours. The agencies don't care if we don’t get paid. They do not tell us how much they are going to pay us and we do not even know the name of the warehouses we are going to work for. We only know them as “candies,” “panties,” “pills,” “tires,” or “perfumes."

Yolanda J. – “One problem that comes up most often is that in some factories that the temp agency sends us to, they only give one 30-minute break for a 12-hour shift, and they do not provide us with more breaks. In the factory in which I am currently working, we start at 6 a.m. and leave at 7 p.m. We only get a 30-minute break for lunch during the day. This is exhausting, but if we refuse to work 13 hours, the company doesn't call us back.”

Geferson I. – “At my job, in the height of the pandemic, they tested us for the COVID-19 virus every Wednesday. In April of 2021 I tested positive for COVID -19 at my job. Once I tested positive, they told me to stay home if I had symptoms. I agreed because I did not want to get my co-workers sick. I was home for seven days without pay. I asked for my paid sick days, but the temp agency refused to pay me. They did not pay me for any of the days I missed. Even if they had paid me five sick days as covered under the law, I would have needed more than five to recover and quarantine. Because of this, I have fallen behind on bills and rent. Warehouses used temp agencies to obtain our labor during the pandemic. We were disposable to them. They relied on us to keep their business going but they didn't treat us with humanity.”

Karla I. - “These warehouses don’t have much ventilation. It is extremely hot in the summer because there is no air conditioning. And during the winter, there is no heat. Last year, I had to stop working because of my health. For example, in one of these warehouses the extreme heat gave me a pre-heart attack. In another warehouse, they forced us to work from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and whoever didn’t stay was fired. The long hours caused inflammation of my sciatic nerve. I requested a sick day from the temp agency and they denied my request. Imagine working through the pandemic without sick days.”

Blanca A. – “While I was working for a temp agency, the agency closed and we didn’t get paid. The workers and I organized with New Labor. We marched and made a formal complaint to the Department of Labor. After a few months, we won. But that same agency re-appeared with a different name. It is not far that this is happening to us. At another temp agency in New Brunswick, I requested my sick days and they always denied them. One day, I spoke with my manager and mentioned that it was my right as a worker to request these days. The manager told me to go away and fired me. It made me angry because four other co-workers also got fired for doing the same thing.”

Vincente R. – “During the COVID pandemic, the agency failed to provide us with protective equipment like masks and gloves, so we had to buy them ourselves. The vans we took to work were always full, even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the workers got COVID-19 because the company did not have a social distancing policy. When we started to get sick, we called the agency and they refused to pay us for even one week of our quarantines. They got upset every time we told them we were ill or talked about COVID-19. And for complaining, I was fired by my agency. The agency retaliated against me for demanding my rights.”

NOT JUST WAREHOUSE WORKERS

Make the Road New Jersey and New Labor said that over the past decades, temporary agencies have populated New Jersey’s old industrial corridor, with many of them opening offices in densely populated cities with large immigrant populations.

And often, the work they’re offering is the very definition of a dead-end job, advocates say.

“Because of the nature of temp work, these workers face barriers to obtaining full-time, permanent employment at the host companies,” advocates said. “As a result, these workers do not obtain higher wages, job security and benefits. Many workers spend months, even years, in the same position, often working side-by-side with permanent workers, without being offered a secure stable job at these companies.”

Other labor advocates in New Jersey have tried to raise the alarm about the rise of temp work in the state. And it’s not just warehouse workers who are being exploited, they say.

According to tempworkerjustice.org:

“At least 127,000 people in New Jersey are working through a temporary staffing agency. These insecure jobs are growing at a rate three times faster than overall employment in New Jersey, putting New Jersey family's economic security at risk. The growth of these lower-wage, fewer benefit temporary jobs is affecting nearly every industry and every occupation. In New Jersey, 2.5% of all jobs are temp jobs. Traditionally the temporary staffing industry filled administrative / clerical positions and day labor. Today, the highest concentrations of temp workers are in logistics work in warehouses and trucking. But this work is not just industrial. Higher wage jobs are also being temped out. Throughout the healthcare industry, particularly in nursing and homecare, the use of staffing agencies has become a new norm. Federal and local government agencies subcontract to temp agencies. Information technology (IT) positions, even when there is a permanent need within companies, are outsourced to temp agencies.”

New Jersey represents a huge and growing portion of the staffing agency job market in the United States, according to a 2018 report from the National Employment Law Project and New Labor.

Some of that growth can be traced to the Port of Newark – the second-largest in the country and a major link in the international supply chain, the report said.

Advocates wrote:

“Shipping goods to Walmart stores. Sorting recyclables for Waste Management. Processing New England seafood. Filling orders for Nike. Across the nation and across New Jersey, major companies are creating insecurity for workers and their families as corporate profits skyrocket. They have outsourced work—not overseas, but to temp agencies here in New Jersey — all along their supply chains, from production to shipping and packing of their products.”

WORKING FOR CHANGE

Currently, workers are pushing for passage of a “temp workers bill of rights” in the state Legislature that would fix some of these problems. Here are some of the things S511/A1474 would do if passed into law, advocates said:

EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK - Under the bill, temporary workers must be paid no less than permanent workers performing similar work. They must also be compensated when they report to a worksite and are sent home without working.

BAN ON TRANSPORTATION FEES AND UNFAIR PAY DEDUCTIONS - The bill prohibits temporary agencies from charging certain fees to workers, including transportation workers are required to take to and from worksites, check cashing, and background and credit checks.

CLEAR DISCLOSURE OF THE TERMS OF ASSIGNMENTS - Temp agencies would be required to provide each worker with written notice in the worker’s primary language of the terms and conditions of each assignment, including pay rate, hours, length of assignment, health and safety issues, and the amount of sick leave they are entitled to under state law.

CLIENT COMPANIES ARE RESPONSIBLE - The bill holds client companies jointly responsible for any violations of the bill, as well as any violations of New Jersey’s wage payment law. Client companies can no longer disclaim responsibility for wage theft and other violations against the temp workers operating in their facilities.

RECORD KEEPING – The bill requires temporary agencies to keep records for six years of key aspects of their business and employment of workers, including the race, gender and ethnicity of each hire and details about client companies. The record-keeping requirements will provide evidence of wage theft, discrimination, and other illegal or unfair treatment of workers.

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATORS – The bill provides a private right of action and strong penalties for violations of the law.

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