Temporary worker bill of rights laws: Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts compared

"Temporary worker bill of rights" laws go beyond agency registration: they tell staffing agencies what to disclose at dispatch, what they may charge, how to pay temps relative to the client's own staff, and what the client itself owes. As of October 2026 the three most detailed are the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (equal pay after 720 hours at one client, plus joint safety duties), New Jersey's Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights (pay and benefits parity from the first day for covered blue-collar placements, with the client jointly liable) and the Massachusetts Temporary Workers Right to Know law (assignment notices and fee limits).

Registration and licensing for each state are covered separately in Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The placement-fee caps are summarised in temp-to-perm conversion fees. This page is about the duties on each assignment.

How do the three laws compare?

Illinois: Day and Temporary Labor Services Act

The Act was amended substantially in 2023 and 2024 (P.A. 103-437, 103-564 and 103-1030). It applies to "day and temporary labor", which by definition "does not include labor or employment of a professional or clerical nature".

Notices and records

• Employment notice (Sec. 10): at dispatch, on a Department-approved form: the worker's name; the work, duties, equipment, protective clothing and training required; wages; the destination address; transport terms; meal and equipment costs; and, once equal pay applies, the comparator's seniority and wage or the occupational classification used. Agencies must also give an application receipt to anyone who sought work that day and was not placed.
• Labor disputes (Sec. 11): written notice, in a language the worker understands, of any strike, lockout, picket, bannering or handbilling at the site, and the right to refuse the assignment without losing future work.
• Records (Sec. 12): clients must send the agency each temp's hours within 7 days after the end of the work week.
• Transport (Sec. 20): no fee for transport to or from the site; a seat and safety belt for every passenger; insured vehicles and licensed drivers.

Equal pay for equal work (Sec. 42)

A temp who works "at the same third party client for more than 720 hours within a 12-month period, beginning on or after April 1, 2024" must be paid at least the straight-time rate of the lowest-paid directly hired comparator with similar seniority doing substantially similar work (or, with no comparator, the lowest-paid direct hire with the closest seniority). At the client's sole discretion, the agency may instead pay the Bureau of Labor Statistics median rate for the job in that area, rising to the 75th percentile after 4,160 hours in 48 months. Section 42(b) also requires "substantially similar benefits" or their hourly cash equivalent. The client must provide pay, seniority and benefits information on request; failing to is a notice violation. Section 43 exempts some workplaces covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

The Illinois Department of Labor's August 2024 bulletin said the "equal benefits" part of the law "remains enjoined by the courts and is not currently being enforced", and its June 2025 bulletin confirmed the 720-hour trigger and pointed to proposed rules. Its current FAQ describes Section 42(b) without mentioning the injunction, so confirm the benefits position before relying on it.

Safety duties (Sec. 85)

Illinois turned OSHA's joint-employer guidance into statute. Before assigning a worker, the agency must:

• inquire about the client's safety and health practices and the hazards at the actual workplace, which may include a site visit, and, if it learns of unmitigated hazards, tell the client, urge correction, document it, or remove its workers;
• provide general awareness safety training for recognized industry hazards, in the worker's preferred language, at no cost, and keep the date and content;
• send the client a description of that training, give the worker the Department's hotline number, and say whom to report safety concerns to on site.

The client must document and share the anticipated hazards, review the agency's training, give site-specific training consistent with OSHA standards and confirm it to the agency within 3 business days, update training before changing tasks, and let the agency visit. A worker or agency may refuse a new task that has not been reviewed or trained for. The federal background is in OSHA's temporary worker rules.

Client liability and penalties

A client may not contract with an unregistered agency and must check registration before contracting and every March 1 and September 1 (civil penalty $100 to $1,500 per day). A client "shall share all legal responsibility and liability for the payment of wages" under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act and Minimum Wage Law (Sec. 85(b)). General penalties run from $100 to $18,000 for violations found in a first audit and $250 to $7,500 for each repeat violation within 3 years, counted per worker per day (Sec. 70). Section 40 bars restrictions on a temp taking a permanent job with the client and caps the placement fee.

New Jersey: Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights

P.L. 2023, c.10, approved February 6, 2023, is codified at N.J.S.A. 34:8D-1 to -13 and implemented by N.J.A.C. 12:72. Sections 3 (notices) and 10 (retaliation) took effect 90 days after enactment and the rest 180 days after.

Who is covered

The law applies to "designated classification placements": Bureau of Labor Statistics groups for other protective service workers, food preparation and serving, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, personal care and service, construction laborers and helpers, installation, maintenance and repair, production, and transportation and material moving. Government clients are excluded from "third party client".

Pay and benefits parity from day one

Under N.J.S.A. 34:8D-7(b), a covered temp "shall not be paid less than the average rate of pay and average cost of benefits, or the cash equivalent thereof, of employees of the third party client performing the same or substantially similar work", measured "at the time the temporary laborer is assigned". N.J.A.C. 12:72-7.2 sets the method:

1. At contracting, the client lists the hourly rate and hourly benefits cost of each comparator employee (salary and annual benefit costs are divided by 2,080 hours).
2. The agency averages the comparators' hourly pay and hourly benefits cost.
3. It subtracts the hourly cost of benefits the agency itself provides; the result is the temp's minimum hourly rate, never below the state minimum wage.

Example (illustrative numbers): comparators average $20.00 an hour in pay and $5.00 an hour in benefits; the agency provides $1.50 an hour of benefits. The temp's minimum rate is $20.00 + $5.00 − $1.50 = $23.50 an hour. Under N.J.A.C. 12:72-7.3, job duties need not be identical to be "substantially similar", and the comparator's seniority is not relevant, only the experience the job requires. The client is "jointly and severally responsible" for violations of section 7, and each affected temp is a separate violation, with penalties of up to $5,000 each.

The other duties

• Dispatch notice (34:8D-3): in English and the worker's primary language: the agency, its workers' compensation carrier, the client, the Department; the work, wages, site, transport, required clothing, PPE, training and licenses and who provides them, costs, the schedule, length and sick-leave rights. Changes to a multi-day assignment need 48 hours' notice when possible. Penalty $500 to $1,000 per violation.
• Records (34:8D-4): kept for six years, open to the worker within five days of a written request; the client must send hours within seven days after the work week.
• Transport (34:8D-5): no fees, no required use of agency transport, safety and insurance rules, and a ride back at day's end.
• Pay statements (34:8D-6): each client, daily hours, rates, deductions and the maximum placement fee; clients give single-day temps a work verification form.
• Certification (34:8D-8): with the Division of Consumer Affairs, fees up to $2,000 a year plus $750 per branch, and a surety bond of at least $200,000.
• Retaliation (34:8D-10): discipline within 90 days of a worker exercising rights is presumed retaliatory.
• Lawsuits (34:8D-11): workers can sue the agency or the client, individually or as a class, and an agency can sue a client that violates the law.

Massachusetts: Temporary Workers Right to Know

M.G.L. c.149, s.159C is narrower: it has no equal pay rule, but it sets assignment notices and limits charges.

• Notice for each new assignment: the agency (or placing agent), its workers' compensation carrier, the worksite employer and the Department of Labor Standards; the position, special clothing, equipment, training or licenses and any cost to the worker; pay day, hourly rate and whether overtime may occur; start and anticipated end times and expected duration; meals; and transport and fees. A phone dispatch must include the same information, confirmed in writing by the end of the first pay period.
• Banned charges: registration or the cost of procuring employment; goods or services unless voluntary under a written contract without profit to the agency; payroll cards or drug screens above actual cost; criminal record (CORI) requests; and anything that takes pay below minimum wage. Deductions need written authorization.
• Transport: no more than actual cost and 3% of the day's wages, free if required, and refunded if the worker is sent to a site with no work.
• Prohibited practices: misleading information, unregistered business names, and placing workers at a site on strike or lockout without telling them.

What should agencies and clients change in practice?

1. Map every open order to the state law and, in New Jersey, to the BLS occupation group, before quoting a bill rate.
2. Put a comparator-data clause in client contracts: who supplies pay and benefits data, when, and how often it is refreshed.
3. In Illinois, track hours per worker per client and diary the 720-hour point; in New Jersey, price parity into the first invoice.
4. Template the dispatch notice in each required language, with labor-dispute wording ready.
5. Run a site safety inquiry and training confirmation for each Illinois client, and keep the paperwork.
6. Show transport and any charges at zero, or at the permitted cap in Massachusetts, on the pay statement.

The wider question of when a client becomes a joint employer under federal law is in joint employer liability for staffing agencies.