House Bill 5955 would create the “Temporary Laborer Rights Act” to regulate temporary labor service agencies, their clients, and temporary laborers in Michigan. The bill establishes detailed notice, recordkeeping, wage, transportation, meal, equipment, and workplace safety requirements for staffing agencies and the businesses that use them. It requires agencies to give workers written job information at dispatch, maintain extensive records, provide pay and annual earnings summaries, and ensure workers are not charged improper fees for meals, transportation, background checks, or required gear. It also bars agencies from sending workers into active strike or lockout situations and limits deductions so that wages do not fall below the state minimum wage.
The bill also creates a registration system administered by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Temporary labor service agencies would have to register, show proof of unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation coverage, pay annual fees, and submit reports that the department would aggregate and publish in anonymized form. The department would maintain public lists of agencies in good standing, suspended, or revoked, and could investigate, inspect, issue cease-and-desist orders, and suspend or revoke registrations. Clients would be required to verify that agencies are registered before contracting with them, and agencies would be prohibited from enforcing contracts while unregistered or suspended.
In addition to administrative enforcement, the bill gives temporary laborers a private right of action and allows complaints to be filed with the department. It also prohibits retaliation or discrimination against workers for asserting rights under the act, participating in investigations, or opposing violations. The bill further requires clients to provide end-of-day work verification forms, and it sets minimum pay protections when a worker reports to an assignment but is not allowed to work at the client’s direction.
The bill’s impact on state law would be significant for the temporary staffing industry, adding a new regulatory framework and new compliance duties for staffing agencies and their clients. It would affect labor contractors, temporary workers, and client businesses across Michigan by imposing disclosure, record retention, registration, and anti-retaliation obligations, while also authorizing civil fines and agency enforcement actions. It would likely increase administrative oversight by the state and create new legal remedies for workers who believe their rights were violated.
No committee transcript or recorded vote information was provided, so the general sentiment cannot be measured from debate or roll call history. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears strongly worker-protective and compliance-focused, with an emphasis on transparency and wage protection. Likely points of contention would include the administrative burden on staffing agencies and client employers, the cost of compliance, the breadth of recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and the restrictions on transportation, deductions, and agency-client contracting.
HB5955 would create a new state regulatory scheme for temporary labor service agencies and their clients, requiring registration with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, mandatory disclosures to workers, detailed recordkeeping, annual reporting, and public agency-status lists. It would also impose new labor protections and limits on fees, deductions, transportation charges, meal charges, and equipment charges, while authorizing civil fines, administrative enforcement, and private lawsuits. The bill would directly affect staffing agencies, client employers, and temporary laborers, and would add new statutory duties and enforcement powers under Michigan law.
No committee discussion or vote record was provided, so there is no documented legislative sentiment to summarize from debate or roll call history. From the bill text, the proposal is clearly designed to expand worker protections and oversight of temporary staffing agencies, suggesting a pro-worker policy direction. The overall tone of the legislation is regulatory and remedial rather than deregulatory.
The most likely points of contention are the scope of the new compliance obligations, including registration, reporting, record retention, and public disclosure requirements, which may be viewed by staffing agencies and client employers as costly and burdensome. Employers may also object to restrictions on transportation arrangements, meal and equipment charges, and the requirement to provide work verification and pay protections even when a worker is not used at a client site. Worker advocates would likely support these provisions, especially the anti-retaliation protections, wage safeguards, and limits on deductions and fees.