Authors

Andrew Elmore, Boston University School of Law
Kati L. Griffith, Cornell Law School
Sachin S. Pandya, University of Connecticut School of Law

Presuming Justice for Temp Workers

Abstract

Workers need to know who their employers are. Who is responsible for remedying workplace dangers? Who can they sue for restitution when they are discriminated against at work, or do not get paid for all of the hours they work? Temp agency contracts complicate these seemingly simple questions. In workers’ rights cases involving “temps,” courts and administrative agencies often engage in protracted, resource-intensive joint employer inquiries to decide whether the temp agency clients share in employer obligations and liabilities with the agencies. This is the case even when the temp agency client has the key markers of an “employer,” such as directly supervising all of the activities of a temp worker on a daily basis. This Article analyzes a first-of-its-kind dataset of thirty-two contracts between leading temp agencies and their clients in blue-collar work. The analysis shows that temp agency contracts often give clients enough control over temporary workers to give rise to employer status and responsibilities under workers’ rights laws. This empirical finding sets the foundation for courts and administrative agencies using contract terms to trigger a legal presumption that a client of a temp agency is a joint employer of the temporary workers provided to them for statutory and collective bargaining purposes. Through its unique empirical lens, this Article offers and justifies a joint employer presumption. This intervention is a practical, necessary correction that will expose meritless attempts to contract out of employer responsibilities.

Repository Citation

Andrew Elmore, Kati L. Griffith, and Sachin S. Pandya, Presuming Justice for Temp Workers, 67 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 341 (2025), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol67/iss2/2