Staffing agency license in Arkansas: the 2025 repeal and what is left

Arkansas used to run one of the more detailed employment agency licensing schemes in the country: agency licenses, separate licenses for managers and counselors, a $5,000 bond, filed fee schedules and a statutory cap on what an agency could charge a worker whose job ended early. In 2025 the General Assembly repealed all of it. Act 438 of 2025 removed Arkansas Code Title 11, Chapter 11, and the Department of Labor and Licensing now states that the chapter is repealed effective August 5, 2025.

This page covers what the repealed law required, what the repeal means for agencies that still have old licenses or fee schedules on file, the professional employer organization registration that remains, and the employer filings every Arkansas staffing firm still needs. For other states, see employment agency license requirements.

Act 438 of 2025: what was repealed

Senate Bill 278, sponsored by Senator J. English and Representative S. Meeks, was approved on April 3, 2025 as Act 438. Its title describes it as an act to repeal the statutes concerning the "occupational authorization and licensure of private employment agencies, employment counselors, and employment agency managers" and to repeal the Arkansas Private Employment Agency Act of 1975. Section 1 is one sentence: "Arkansas Code Title 11, Chapter 11, is repealed." Section 2 removes employment agency license fees from the list of general revenues in § 19-6-201(17).

The Act has no emergency clause, and the Department of Labor and Licensing's page says the chapter "is repealed" effective August 5, 2025. The repeal reached two subchapters:

• Subchapter 1, § 11-11-101. A licensing requirement for foreign labor agents and employment agencies that entered Arkansas to recruit workers to take out of the state. Gone.
• Subchapter 2, §§ 11-11-201 and following. The Arkansas Private Employment Agency Act of 1975, covering agency, manager and counselor licenses, bonds, fee schedules, fee caps, records and prohibited practices. Gone.

What the old law required

If you are reading an older guide, a client contract or your own compliance binder, this is what it was describing. The figures come from the repealed text reproduced in Act 438.

The 1975 Act already excluded much of the modern staffing industry. Its definition of "employment agency" in § 11-11-202 did not include a person who employs individuals to render temporary services under a third party's direction while paying their wages, Social Security and unemployment taxes, or a person who contracts with an employer to recruit employees "without charge to the prospective employee." Nurses' registries, management consulting firms and resume services needed a certificate of exemption under § 11-11-209. So the license mostly bit on agencies that charged job seekers, which is also the business model that loses the most protection from the repeal.

What the repeal changes in practice

• No license to renew. If your agency held an Arkansas license, there is nothing to renew. Keep the old certificate and the repeal notice in your files in case a client's vendor questionnaire still asks for a license number.
• No bond. The statutory $5,000 bond no longer exists. Whether you can cancel an old bond is a question for your surety; ask in writing.
• No filed fee schedules. You no longer file fee schedules or contract forms with the state before using them.
• No state fee caps. The 1/90th proration and the 20% and 40% ceilings for short jobs are gone. That does not mean any fee to a candidate is safe. Contract law and general consumer protection rules still apply, and an aggressive candidate fee is now the riskiest thing an Arkansas agency can do. Most firms are better off charging only employers.

The repeal is narrow in one respect: it ended licensing, not every rule that touches staffing. Wage payment, anti-discrimination, workers' compensation and unemployment laws apply to a staffing firm as an employer exactly as before.

What applies, by business model

PEO registration with the Arkansas Insurance Department

Professional employer organizations were never part of Chapter 11 and were not touched by Act 438. They register with the Arkansas Insurance Department under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-92-401 et seq. and the department's Employer Service Assurance Organizations rule, 23 CAR pt. 32. The department's PEO registration page describes:

• A $100,000 bond as part of the application.
• Biennial renewals, with separate forms for initial applications, renewals, exempt PEOs, PEO groups, changes of control and quarterly reporting.
• Relief for accredited PEOs: those accredited through an approved assurance organization do not submit the $100,000 bond and get a 50% reduction in application and renewal fees.

The page does not state the fee amounts, and I could not confirm them from another official source as of October 2026. Ask the department before you file.

A temporary staffing firm that employs its own workers and places them on short assignments is generally not providing professional employer services. A firm that takes over a client's existing workforce on a long-term co-employment basis is. If you do both, keep the two lines of business separate and check which one each client contract describes.

Health care staffing and other special categories

As of October 2026, searching for Arkansas rules aimed at staffing firms turned up:

• Nurse and health care staffing agencies: no registration statute found. The Department of Health licenses home health and private care agencies that deliver care themselves, which is a different business from supplying staff to a facility.
• Agencies recruiting Arkansas workers for jobs elsewhere: the § 11-11-101 foreign labor agent license was repealed along with the rest of Chapter 11.
• Farm labor contractors: no state license found; the federal Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act still applies to farm labor contracting.

Employer accounts every Arkansas staffing firm still needs

• Unemployment insurance. Register with the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services once you have Arkansas payroll. A temporary staffing firm is the employer of record for its temps and carries the account.
• Workers' compensation. Coverage is administered through the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission. A temp firm counts the workers on its own payroll, so it reaches the coverage threshold quickly. See staffing agency insurance requirements for the other policies clients ask for.
• Income tax withholding. Register with the Department of Finance and Administration.
• Secretary of State. Out-of-state entities register to do business before opening an Arkansas office or hiring there.
• City business license. Check the city where your office is. This is local and separate from anything in the Code.

The setup sequence for a new firm is in how to start a staffing agency. If you also recruit across the border, Arkansas's neighbors take very different approaches: Missouri repealed its license in 1999 (see staffing agency license in Missouri), while Tennessee keeps fee rules for candidate-paid agencies (see staffing agency license in Tennessee).

An Arkansas checklist

ARKANSAS CHECK — [date] — owner: [name]

Old license (if any):
  [ ] Repeal notice (Act 438 of 2025) filed with old certificate
  [ ] Surety asked in writing about the old $5,000 bond
  [ ] Vendor questionnaires updated: "license repealed 8/5/2025"

Model:
  [ ] Employer-paid direct hire: contract terms only
  [ ] Candidate-paid fees: written agreement reviewed by counsel
  [ ] Temp/contract, we employ: employer accounts below
  [ ] Co-employment of client workforce: PEO registration (23-92-401)

Employer accounts:
  Division of Workforce Services UI account          [ ]
  Workers' comp in force                             [ ]
  DFA withholding account                            [ ]
  Secretary of State registration; city license      [ ]
Next review: [date]

Re-check if you start charging candidates or begin co-employing a client's existing staff. The first is the business the old law was written to police, and the second puts you under the Insurance Department's PEO rules.