§ 34:8D-1 — Findings, declarations.

1. The Legislature finds and declares: a. At least 127,000 individuals work for temporary help service firms, sometimes referred to as temp agencies or staffing agencies, in New Jersey. Approximately 100 temporary help service firms with several branch offices are licensed throughout the State. Moreover, there are a large, though unknown, number of unlicensed temporary help service firms that operate outside the purview of law enforcement. b. Recent national data indicate that the share of Black and Latino temporary and staffing workers far outstrips their proportion of the workforce in general. In addition to a heavy concentration in service occupations, temporary laborers are heavily concentrated in the production, transportation, and material moving occupations and manufacturing industries. Further, full-time temporary help service firm workers earn 41 percent less than workers in traditional work arrangements, and these workers are far less likely than other workers to receive employer-sponsored retirement and health benefits. c. Recent studies and a survey of low-wage temporary laborers themselves find that, generally, these workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse of their labor rights, including unpaid wages, failure to pay for all hours worked, minimum wage and overtime violations, unsafe working conditions, unlawful deductions from pay for meals, transportation, equipment, and other items, as well as discriminatory practices. d. This act is intended to further protect the labor and employment rights of these workers. L.2023, c.10, s.1.