Calling an employee a temp doesn't make it so

Staffing and hiring during the pandemic are especially chaotic. Many employers that don’t traditionally use temporary staff are seeking to fill short-term gaps in the workforce or simply want employees for a short time because it’s unclear what the business structure will look like once the pandemic business issues have shifted. Employers also may want to use temporary staff to avoid paying benefits and similar items. But temporary isn’t always temporary in the eyes of the law.

What is a temporary employee?

Typically, a temporary employee is a person hired for a limited time for a specific project with a specific end date. Many employers, however, hire staff calling them “temporary” with an open-ended end date or in a “temp-to-hire” circumstance.

The longer employees remain employed, the less likely the law will consider them to be temporary.

What about hiring temps through an organization or agency?

Many employers, particularly those with extremely short-term needs such as the need for temporary nurses or CNAs hired through pool staff or a fill-in during Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, aren’t anticipating the temps are actually employees of the company.

The issue of joint employment, however, can be quite complicated. Even if you hire through a temporary staffing agency, it’s possible you could be found to be the temp’s employer.

Generally, when you contract with an agency, you want to be clear it will: