It’s the nature of our business that we have only a small corps of permanent workers. Most of the rest are leased, temps, or independent contractors who are with us anywhere from a day to a year. We also get a lot of repair people who are in and out in a few hours. Our question is, what sort of orientation do we have to give these “outsiders” to our policies and procedures? Or, the other side of the coin, how much liability do we have if one of them violates our policies? — Edward T., HR Specialist in Sacramento
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Your company is not alone as contingent workers are now ubiquitous in countless workplaces around the country. Employers increasingly rely on these workers—temporary, leased, or independent contractors—because they are often more flexible and typically less expensive than hiring regular full time employees. The first rule of dealing with contingent workers is not to treat them as regular employees. The more these workers look and interact as regular employees, the harder it will be to minimize your liability. This advice applies to training and orientation programs for contingent workers as well.
With that said, contingent workers should know the rules and policies at the companies where they work. It makes sense for an employer to give all contingent workers copies of its equal employment opportunity, harassment, and grievance policies. For workers hired for a long-term assignment, providing abbreviated orientation training makes sense. The following are examples of the kinds of topics you would include in your orientation training to an audience of just contingent workers:
- Brief training on general business topics such as company history, attendance, time sheets, reporting complaints to their hiring agency, overview of basic information such as parking, where the cafeteria and rest rooms are located and when breaks are scheduled. Also, be sure to introduce them to someone who can answer their questions.
- Harassment training with the major focus on the company’s policy. If the worker is hired through an agency, make sure the agency provides the requisite harassment training as well. The workers should know the company’s policy and that they are both protected under the policy and must abide by it.
Liability Issues
Are you liable if a contingent worker violates your policies? Potentially, yes. For example, if a contingent worker harasses one of your employees, or one of your employees harasses the contingent worker, you may potentially have a third-party harassment claim on your hands. The only comforting news is that the liability may be shared, depending on the circumstances. Because temporary or leased employees are usually hired by and work for a temporary agency, they’re generally considered employees of those agencies. The agencies typically have the first line of responsibility and liability.
However, depending on how much control the employer has over the contingent workers, it may be considered a joint employer with the leasing or temporary agency and be held partially responsible as an employer. As an aside, because such a large percentage of your workforce is contingent, your managers should certainly be trained about the limits of their managerial interaction with these workers.
Allison West, Esq., SPHR, is principal of Employment Practices Specialists, an employment law training and consulting firm in Pacifica.