Most contingent workers lack an effective right to union organization. In sum, employers treat workers in nonstandard jobs unequally, and the law permits or ignores this inequity. Many employment and labor laws exclude contingent workers from coverage . 10 Particular types of contingent workers face particular difficulties. Temp workers, for example, are part of a triangular relationship with the employment agency and client, for which the worker performs assigned duties.
Temps have little leverage and lack essential information affecting their jobs.
The temp agency's client may hold power in relation to the worker, yet the law may hold the client free of an employer's legal liabilities. Temps often find that an employee's legal rights do not apply to them. Many workers performing the same duties as regular workers over long periods are misclassified as temps, contract workers, or other categories that distort their real status. Those misclassified as independent contractors, for example, are excluded from coverage by workplace protective laws, minimum wage and overtime, health and safety, and other labor and employment laws. Similarly, while some temp workers are truly temporary, a large number of regular full-time workers have been intentionally misclassified by their employers as contingent.