Backers vow to keep fighting for bill to regulate staffing industry

A bill to regulate the temporary staffing industry has been shelved, but backers say they’re not giving up.

TheSAFE Actpassed the state Senate but stalled in the state Assembly Appropriations Committee over cost concerns.

Robert Reid, executive director of the Partnership Organization for Workplace Ethics and Reform, said the bill will be back next year and believes there is a persistent need for it because the staffing industry employs millions in the Golden State.

"Close to 10% of the workers in California work through temporary staffing agencies, and regulation and the enforcement and the oversight has not kept pace with that rapid growth," Reid contended.

The bill would have required staffing agencies to prove they have workers’ compensation coverage and register with the state. The bill aimed to stop bad actors who do not pay taxes or workers’ comp, which allows them to undercut legitimate staffing agencies complying with the law. The American Staffing Association opposed the bill, arguingregistration feeswould be a burden to legitimate agencies.

Reid stressed fraud is rampant in California’s staffing industry and enforcement of existing laws has fallen short.

"The lack of compliance with the current labor laws has allowed a segment of the industry to take advantage of that with no barriers to entry, no application process, no licensing process," Reid argued.

The bill would have also required staffing agencies to disclose their finances. The state would create a public registry of compliant staffing agencies and be authorized to issue stop-work actions against uninsured operators.

Source: Public News Service