Staffing Industry Bulletin
Volume 1, Issue 5
A Publication of the Center for Urban Economic Development
University of Illinois at Chicago
Worker’s Comp Ruling Hurts
Temp Agencies
Worker’s compensation claims filed by temporary
workers must be borne by the end-user firm and not
the temp agency, the California Workers’
Compensation Appeals Board has ruled. In its decision,
the Board found that the California Insurance
Guarantee Association could not be forced to cover the
work er’s comp claim of a RemedyTemp employee
because coverage was available through the insurer of
the end-user firm, Jacuzzi, Inc. As a result, temporary
help supply (THS) firms in California will no longer be
able to include worker’s compensation in the bundle of
costs and risks they assume on behalf of end-user
employers. The THS industry in California views the
ruling as a sizable setback. “One of the big services we
provide right now is we handle all the paperwork, and
one of the big parts of the paperwork that we handle is
workmen’s comp,” said Joe Mackey of the California
Professional Staffing Industry Group.
(Source: California Worker’s Comp Advisor, April 16,
2003) v
Study to Determine Health
Impact of Contingent Work
A study from Canada’s Institute for Work and Health
will examine the health impacts – in terms of insurance
coverage and physical problems stemming from
varying work hours – of non-standard work
arrangements. “The potential health consequences
arising from new forms of work arrangements have not
been given adequate attention,” says Emile Tompa, a
researcher at the Institute. (Source: Canadian HR
Reporter, February 10, 2003).
UIC Center for Urban Economic Development
Staffing Industry Bulletin 1
April 2003
Pasadena Day Laborer
Center on the Ropes
In response to lower-than-expected use of its publicly
funded day laborer center, the city of Pasadena,
California is considering an ordinance against street-
corner day labor activity. The City Opened the
Pasadena Employment Job Center in February, 2001
in an effort to minimize public, street-corner day labor
activity. But despite the amenities it offers, the center is
used by only a small portion of the City’s day laborers
and contractors. Geography appears to be the primary
problem: The Center stands more than 11 blocks from
Pasadena’s long-established primary labor corner.
Coupled with workers’ uncertainty about the new
center, the sizable distance between it and the city’s
better-known labor corners appears to encourage
many day laborers to maintain the status quo. Despite
the fact that the proposed ordinance would increase
use of the Center, Center directors oppose it, citing an
interference “with the dynamic of supply and demand.”
(Source: Los Angeles Times, Metro Section, March 27,
2003) v
Center for Urban Economic Development
University of Illinois at Chicago
400 S. Peoria St., Suite 2100, Chicago IL 60607
Please contact Marc Doussard
with questions or comments.
Phone: 312.996.4327
email: mdouss1@uic.edu
This project is funded by
The Rockefeller Foundation
 Staffing Industry Bulletin
Volume 1, Issue 5 PAGE 2
Missouri PEOs Drop
Worker’s Comp
Rising worker’s compensation costs in Missouri are
paving the way for dramatic changes in both employer
practice and state policy. In the face of worker’s
compensation premium increases as high as 10% or
more over the past two years, professional employer
organizations (PEOs), including Columbia’s
Moresource, have elected to drop worker’s
compensation for workers on their payrolls. As a result,
these PEOs will no longer be able to include worker’s
compensation in the bundle of human resources
obligations they bear on behalf of employers.
The cost escalation has also led Missouri’s Republican
senators to sponsor a bill that labels the workplace “the
dominant factor” in employee injuries, as opposed to its
current definition as “a substantial factor” in those
injuries. This seemingly minor semantic change would
“stop injured workers from recovering for their injuries,”
according to the Missouri Association of Trial
Attorneys. (Source: Columbia Daily Tribune, April 28,
2003) v
Temporary Employment
Still Stagnant
Despite predictions that the recession had reached its
nadir and that temporary staffing was ready to rebound
(Staffing Industry Bulletin, March 2003), employment in
the temporary help supply industry fell by 0.5% in the
past month. Additionally, staffing industry “penetration”
of total U.S. employment – the percent of all workers
accounted for by temporary workers – remained
essentially unchanged, falling to 2.39% from 2.4%.
However, these mild losses mark notable
improvements over the temporary employment losses
recorded one year ago. (Source: Gerard Klauer
Mattison Equity Research) v
UIC Center for Urban Economic Development
Staffing Industry Bulletin 2
September 2002
Department of Labor Hires
Manpower
The Employment and Training Administration of the
U.S. Department of Labor has hired temping giant
Manpower to overhaul the One-Stop Career Centers
through which workforce development programs are
run. Under the terms of the agreement, Manpower staff
will soon meet with the heads of many of the nation’s
1,900 local One-Stop centers to “begin sharing
expertise and building strong relationships at the local
level.” Under the vaguely sketched outlines of the
partnership, Manpower will work with the One-Stop
centers to strengthen their connections to local
businesses. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration press
release) v
Contractor Convicted in
Day Laborer Death
After rejecting a charge of manslaughter, a New York
City jury has convinced contractor Shakun Tam of
reckless endangerment in the death of a day laborer
last year. The worker, Antonio Romano, was killed
when hundreds of 64-pound cinder blocks fell on him at
a Tam construction site. Prosecutors had sought a
manslaughter conviction on the grounds that Tam
“consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable
risk of death,” but the jury found evidence of the charge
to be ambiguous and instead selected the lesser
charge of reckless endangerment. (Source: Newsday,
April 9, 2003) v