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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), since 1996
the number of people working or available for hire has only increased at the
rate of 1.1 percent a year. BLS projects that the rate of increase of the labor
pool will continue to shrink until at least 2006 because of the aging of the
population. The booming economy, coupled with the tight labor market, provides
a challenge to the country's business sector. As a result, employers will need
new strategies to find pools of talent, hire quickly and retrain staff if they
are to keep their companies competitive. One strategy being used to address
this problem is the services of temporary staffing agencies.
The staffing industry has expanded rapidly during the last 25
years. Temporary employment placement has increased from 165,000 people in 1972
to more than two million in 1995, reflecting an annual growth rate of more then
11 percent. Nine out of 10 U.S. businesses use the services of a staffing
industry firm, according to a recent survey by Business and Legal
Reports. More then one-third of the companies surveyed plan to increase
their use of staffing industry services. The BLS estimates that between the
years of 1994 and 2005, temporary employment opportunities will expand by more
than 50 percent.
Temporary staffing agencies may be one answer to people with
disabilities finding employment opportunities. Qualified persons with
disabilities represent a largely untapped labor source. Although some companies
are already having trouble finding employees to fill their jobs, the
unemployment rate for people with disabilities continues to be high. The 1995
Census Bureau's Current Population Survey indicates that fewer than one-third
of the country's more than 16 million working-age, non-institutionalized
persons with disabilities are employed. Three-quarters of persons with
disabilities currently unemployed would rather be working according to the
National Organization on Disability 1998 Harris Poll.
In addition to matching candidates with jobs, temporary staffing
agencies are taking on additional human resource functions including training
and evaluation. Many temporary jobs become permanent. Temporary staffing
agencies are not only strong sources of qualified, experienced employees, but
are also becoming an important resource for linking people with disabilities to
full-time employment opportunities.
Temporary Staffing and Hiring People with
Disabilities
Temporary staffing agencies work with people with disabilities in
the same way they work with people without disabilities. "The ADA did not
impact our business dramatically. From inception, our company focused on what
people can do in the work place. That is our business, and that is how we
create shareholder value," says Mitchell Fromstein, Manpower Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer.
The focus of the job placement process for all applicants is on
individual abilities, job skills and interests. The staffing industry uses job
assessment services, temporary job assignments and work skills training to help
individuals with and without disabilities find their employment niche. These
services provide job seekers with opportunities to build a work history,
experience different types of jobs, and increase their employment marketability
and earning potential through enhancement of work skills.
The following features used by staffing agencies result in
effective job placement for all persons:
- Individualized applicant assessment procedures
- Focus on individual abilities, job skills and interests
- Systematized skill assessments for a variety of tasks
- Matching employee skills to workplace demands based on an
assessment of local customer needs
- Individualized job training
- Providing accommodations as part of the placement process
EEOC
Policy Guidance
There is a lack of clarity concerning whether the employer or the
temporary staffing agency is responsible for paying for accommodating temporary
employees with disabilities. The following EEOC policy guidance may assist in
this area.
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act Policy Guidance, issued
September 20, 1991, (IN-917-002), addressed what constitutes an employment
agency; how charges against employment agencies should be investigated; and
what remedies can be obtained for Title VII violations by these agencies. This
guidance concludes that Title VII covers employment agencies, as well as
employers, and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex,
religion or national origin.
- EEOC's policy guidance on the concepts of integrated enterprise
and joint employer, issued May 6, 1987 (N-915) clarifies that the identity of
the employer is based on economic realities of the relationship and extent of
the party's control over means and manner of an employee's performance. Factors
that can be used to determine economic realities and control are:
- Level of skills required for the position
- Location of the work
- Duration of relationship of parties
- Hiring party's rights to assign additional projects to
employee
- Extent of employee's discretion of how and how long to
work
- Method of payment
- Whether hiring party is in business
- Whether the work is part of hiring party's regular
business
- Whether hiring party provide benefits
- Whether hiring party deducts employment-related taxes.
- EEOC's enforcement guidance on the Application of EEO Laws to
Contingent Workers Placed by Temporary Employment Agencies and Other Staffing
Firms, issued December 3, 1997 (www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/conting.html)
Resources
Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) Technical
Assistance: (800) 669-4000 (V) or (800) 669-6820 (TTY) Documents: (800)
669-3362 (V) or (800) 669-3302 (TTY) Website:
http://www.eeoc.gov
Office of Disability Employment Policy (202) 693-7880 (V),
(202) 693-7881 (TTY), (202) 693-7888 (FAX)
Study by Peter Blanck, J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law, Medicine
and Psychology, and Director, Law Health Policy and Disability Center,
University of Iowa, College of Law, "The Emerging Role of the Staffing Industry
in the Employment of Persons with Disabilities: a Case Report on Manpower,
Inc.," 1998.
July 1999 Updated August 2001 |