Temporary employees are not protected under labor and employment laws. Businesses must maintain a safe worksite for them. Temporary employees have collective bargaining rights. Temporary employees are protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Temporary employees often are employed jointly by the staffing firm and the worksite employer, and thus have recourse against both employers.
New legislation is needed to mandate benefits for contingent workers.
Mandating wage parity for temporary employees, as some have proposed, would disrupt long-term projects and would chill the use of flexible staffing arrangements, depriving both workers and businesses of flexibility. Accelerating the timetable for allowing workers to deduct the full cost of health insurance without regard to employment status. Increasing incentives to save for retirement by raising limits on tax-deductible individual retirement account contributions. A Rare Breed , Employment Policy Foundation, Jul. 8, 1999.