Staffing agencies fighting to kill New Jersey's temp worker law
A federal judge is set to decide whether parts of a new law overhauling the temporary worker industry will get into effect as planned next month, or whether state business organizations and staffing agencies are right that it’s too vague to be implemented as they challenge its constitutionality in court.
The bill’s critics, who lobbied against the bill aggressively as it made its way through the Legislature before it was signed into law earlier this year, say in court filings that attorneys representing the state have provided no reason why this “unique” legislation should “suddenly be thrust upon” New Jersey’s business community.
“This invites only chaos which is not in the public interest,” attorney Steven B. Harz, who represents staffing agencies in their suit against the legislation, said in a letter to the judge overseeing the case Thursday.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office is defending the law, calling it “plainly comprehensible” and adding that related regulations set to be released by the state Department of Labor by July 21 will clarify what staffing agencies will be required to do.
“An emergency injunction is wholly unwarranted where asserted compliance costs are balanced against the statute’s weighty public interest: preventing exploitation of hundreds of thousands of temporary laborers that the Legislature has found to be particularly vulnerable to abusive labor practices,” state attorneys wrote in a May brief.
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2023/07/14/staffing-agencies-fighting-to-kill-new-jerseys-temp-worker-bill/