The term contingent worker covers a broad range of temporary worker arrangements and flexible working conditions. It includes temporary workers on your payroll, independent contractors, temporary workers from agencies, and leased employee arrangements. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published a directive, Enforcement Guidance: Application of EEO Laws to Contingent Workers Placed by Temporary Employment Agencies and Other Staffing Firms (Guidance), to address how discrimination laws affect temporary employees and their employers. The EEOC Guidance describes contingent workers as those who are generally outside an employer's core workforce and includes workers whose jobs are irregular or will only last a short time. The Guidance deals with a specific type of temporary worker: those who are hired and paid by a staffing agency, but whose working conditions are totally or partially controlled by clients (or employer organizations) who use the agency. The main type of staffing agency described in the EEOC Guidance is the temporary employment agency. |