A logistics firm fired three female temporary workers from their Tennessee warehouse because the workers filed a sexual harassment complaint. A fourth worker was also fired for agreeing to serve as a witness during a company investigation. Consequently, the firm is facing a hefty lawsuit of $1.5 million. The amount is made up of $177,094 in back wages to workers, $486,000 in compensatory damages, and $850,000 in punitive damages.

Cases like these are becoming increasingly common, as some employers erroneously believe that temporary workers are somehow exempt from EEOC protection. Although in this particular case, the logistics firm in question was the sole employer of these workers; additional complexities often arise when staffing suppliers are used to employ temporary workers. In these kinds of cases, the staffing agency – as primary employer of the workers - has the first line of responsibility for handling harassment claims. However, client companies are often considered co-employers of temporary workers, particularly if those workers perform their duties on the client company’s site and work under their direction on a day to day basis. As a result, both the staffing company and their client have a duty to protect workers from harassment and to work together to investigate complaints thoroughly and bring them to a satisfactory resolution.

The use of temporary workers in the U.S. has grown considerably in recent years. In fact, forty percent of employers plan to hire temporary and contract workers in 2013. As a result of this growth, companies must develop a cohesive strategy around the use of temporary labor, particularly regarding issues such as harassment, discrimination and worker safety with their staffing providers if they have them, and with their internal team if they self-source and employ their own temporary labor.

Either way, educating temporary workers about what to do if they experience or witness harassment before they start their assignment is a good, preventative measure that can be undertaken by whoever is the employer. If you use the services of a staffing company, there’s nothing wrong with following up with them to make sure they have provided workers with orientations that cover details like their company’s equal employment opportunity and anti-harassment policies and to ensure those policies and procedures are included in their employee handbook for workers to review. Ultimately, the better your staffing company is at this kind of thing, the better protected you are as a result.

Finally, the most important thing is ensuring good, clear and consistent communication between you, your departmental managers and your staffing providers in order to provide a safe workplace that is free of harassment and discrimination for temps, contractors and full timers alike.

Find out more about the $1.5 million judgment

Though Emergent strives to publish the most current information on topics of reader interest, Emergent cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy or completeness of posted information in any way. Click here to read our full disclaimer.

For the latest Contingent Workforce news and trends, visit our Emergent News Page
</br>