LETTER: Staffing bill aims at the wrong target
In response to your Monday story, “Nevada’s staffing agencies are embroiled in an existential struggle”: The author notes that AB227 “aims to address employee misclassification.” True, but it aims at the wrong target.
By law, temporary workers employed by staffing agencies licensed by the Nevada labor commissioner are employees of the agency, not independent contractors. As such, agencies must comply with all state labor and employment laws, including payment of the employee’s wages, withholding employment taxes and providing all legally required benefits such as workers’ compensation insurance. Thus, claims of an unlevel playing field are completely unfounded.
The American Staffing Association is fighting nationwide to combat worker misclassification and, on that score, is on the same side as the unions.
Staffing agencies support regulation by the Contractors Board. The industry will urge the creation of a special licensing category for “labor suppliers” to allow staffing agencies licensed by the labor commissioner to continue providing Nevada contractors with the critically needed temporary workers they have relied on for more than four decades.
