MICROSOFT: Employers make sure temps are temporary
Sun | Business
The Associated Press — Jun 1st, 1999
MindSpring Enterprises, a fast-growing Internet provider, increasingly relies on a temp agency to supply a stream of workers for its call-in centers. But the company is careful to offer them staff jobs, or replace them after 90 days.
Like a growing number of companies, Atlanta-based MindSpring uses temporary workers to cut costs and solve labor shortages.
But temporary workers are increasingly demanding employee benefits if they work as long and hard as permanent workers, compelling wary businesses like MindSpring to take steps so temps don't become de facto employees.
A closely watched court battle between Microsoft Corp. and its longtime temps - dubbed "permatemps" - is the most visible sign of this growing workplace issue.
In the latest twist to the case, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled in mid-May that thousands of former temps should have been allowed to join the company's lucrative stock-purchase program. On Wednesday, Microsoft asked the full appeals court to review the decision.
The ruling was the first to hold that temps can look to both their agency and their work-site employer for benefits. It raises the specter that employers will be liable for everything from temps' benefits to their grievances.
"(It) is another reminder ... that they just can't change the label or badge and turn them into a nonemployee," said Catherine Ruckelshaus, litigation director at the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers.
Since 1982, the percentage of temps has quadrupled to 2.2 percent of all workers, according to forthcoming data from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. On any given day, about 1.3 million temps are at work, spawning an estimated $60 billion industry.
Up to 90 percent of U.S. companies use temps, often because they provide a flexible, quick and cheaper source of labor.
Temps, who are mostly women, are clustered in low-paying work, such as secretarial jobs, and most would prefer a permanent job. Few get health insurance or other benefits from their agencies, according to Economic Policy Institute studies.
Microsoft temps have filed a number of lawsuits against the company. Along with the suit seeking stock-purchase rights, the temps are suing for health insurance and pension benefits.
Microsoft spokesman Dan Leach responds that temp agency employees look to their agencies for wages and benefits.
"It's very clear that Microsoft employees work for Microsoft, and employees of temp agencies work for temp agencies," he said.
But many employers aren't so sure that the lines of responsibility are clear anymore.
Some courts have defined a "common-law employee" as a worker who has spent more than five months at a company, substantially under the employers' control.
"We get calls regularly on this issue, asking 'How do we make this determination?' " said Michael Bartlett, manager of labor law policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "There are serious liability concerns."
As a result, companies are tightening contracts to more clearly exclude temps from benefit plans.
Some have established internal "temp agencies" that assign roving permanent workers to different projects. Others have leased some of their operations to outside firms rather than bringing in temps.
Temp agencies, as well, should do more for their workers, advocacy groups say. A coalition of such groups, including the national working women's group 9 to 5, will unveil a national code of conduct for temp agencies in the fall.
Wanted: temp workers with high-tech skills
By Timothy Egan N.Y. Times News Service SEATTLE — The hiring hall of the Information Age is a fourth-floor office encased in glass and granite, just a few blocks from a waterfront that once buzzed with temporary workers of an entirely different sort. ... [Read More...]
BENEFITS: Ruling against Microsoft stands
The Supreme Court won't step in on the temporary workers' case. The Associated Press REDMOND -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a court ruling that could force Microsoft Corp. to pay millions of dollars in benefits to temporary workers. ... [Read More...]
FEDERAL LAWSUIT: Microsoft, temp workers settle
* Between 8,000 and 12,000 current and former employees are expected to receive a portion of the $97 million award. SEATTLE - Microsoft has reached a $97 million settlement of federal lawsuits from temporary workers who challenged the software giant's employment practices, Microsoft and attorneys for the temps ... [Read More...]
MICROSOFT: Caps on raises may chase temps to other jobs
SEATTLE (AP) -- New caps on raises for temporary workers at Microsoft may prompt some free-lance workers to go elsewhere. But company officials say the plan will prevent in-house raiding. The software maker is considering a 5 percent annual cap on pay raises or ... [Read More...]
MICROSOFT: Temps win stock-purchase option
* Court rules in favor of former employees who were not paid benefits in an effort to save money. WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to free Microsoft Corp. from having to pay as many as 10,000 temporary employees who were not allowed to ... [Read More...]