A first-in-the-nation law that creates new legal protections for temporary workers recently took full effect in New Jersey, despite opposition from the business community, a conditional veto by the governor and a legal challenge in federal court.

The New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights (the Act) provides new protections for temporary workers in certain occupations and enhanced administrative oversight and regulation of temporary staffing agencies, referred to in the Act as "temporary help service firms" (firms), and the companies at which their temporary workers are placed, the "third-party clients." N.J. Stat. § 34:8D-1—34:8D-13. The Act seeks to promote pay equity by requiring equal pay and benefits (or the cash equivalent thereof) for covered temporary workers relative to similarly situated direct-hire employees.

The Act, however, imposes substantial obligations and costs on firms and their third party clients. While the Act's full impact on the temporary staffing industry remains to be seen, it may foreshadow things to come as other states consider new pay equity laws and other worker protections. A similar law has already gone into effect in Illinois. 2023 Ill. HB 2862, ILL. P.A. 437.