Those temps often don’t know where they’ll be working from one day to the next, or even if they’ll be working. And it’s a group of workers that advocates say are more vulnerable to harassment and abuse — including so-called perma-temping, where workers are held back from getting hired full-time.That’s why those advocates pushed for a bill that aims to create new protections for temps.
“Now after 90 days, temp workers are going to have the right to become permanent workers for the company,” Frausto said, with pay and benefits equal to full-time employees — a way to incentivize companies to hire the temps as staff. “Most of the workers that fill up the temp work industry, they’re Black and Brown,” said state Rep. Edgar Gonzalez “Many of these, especially amongst the Latino community, the ones that I represent, tend to be undocumented. I think that for the most part, it’s corporations trying to make sure they can get labor as cheap as possible.”
But worker advocates say an understaffed Illinois Department of Labor can’t keep up with enforcing existing projections.
The bill was passed by lawmakers in Springfield during the spring session and is now awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzkers' signature.