A federal judge Wednesday evening upheld the so-called "temp worker bill of rights" despite a suit aiming to strike it down, just over a week before several major provisions of the bill were set to go into effect.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed the law in February after a tumultuous legislative battle. It’s aimed at providing benefits and protections to thousands of temp workers employed at warehouses and distribution centers found across the state. New Jersey has some 127,000 temp workers that would be affected by the law.
Labor unions and immigrants' rights groups backing the bill contend that agencies often funnel undocumented immigrants in New Jersey into unsafe working conditions. Advocates say temp staff members are sometimes kept on the same job site for years, becoming "perma-temps" even as they are paid less, put in unsafe conditions and shut out of typical benefits.
But business groups sued to block the law in May, calling the measure unconstitutional and saying it would cripple the temporary staffing industry.
Still, U.S District Judge Christine O’Hearn declined to issue a restraining order blocking the law from going into effect, writing in her Wednesday evening decision that the plaintiffs were “unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim.”
One of the plaintiffs, the American Staffing Association, deferred to the New Jersey Staffing Alliance.
“The associations are assessing the implications of the court’s ruling and determining what the next steps should be in...
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