SB396: Bill Text

LRB-3826/1

GMM:kjf:jf

2003 - 2004 LEGISLATURE

2003 Senate BILL 396

January 16, 2004 - Introduced by Senators Carpenter, Erpenbach and Chvala, cosponsored by Representatives J. Lehman, Musser, Zepnick, Berceau, Pocan, Sinicki, Young, Turner, Boyle, Miller, Plouff and Morris. Referred to Committee on Labor, Small Business Development and Consumer Affairs.

SB396,1,7 An Act to renumber 105.01 (1) (a), 105.01 (1) (c), 105.01 (1) (d) and 105.01 (1) (e); to renumber and amend 105.01 (1) (intro.), 105.01 (1) (b) (intro.), 105.01 (1) (b) 1., 105.01 (1) (b) 2. and 105.01 (1) (f); to amend 105.05 (1), 105.06 (2) and 105.15; and to create 105.01 (1r) (f), 105.01 (3) (intro.) and 105.115 of the statutes; relating to: limiting the amount that a temporary help service, employment agent, employer-paid employment agent, or employer may charge an employee for transportation and providing a penalty.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, an employment agent may not charge an applicant for employment any fee for services rendered that is greater than the maximum fee for the applicable classification of employment fixed by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) by rule. Currently, DWD rules require an employment agent to clearly advise an applicant for employment as to who is liable for transportation expenses when the applicant is referred to a position outside the city where the employment agent is located. These requirements, however, do not apply to a person whose fees are paid entirely by an employer (employer-paid employment agent) or to a temporary help service, which is a service that employs individuals to render temporary or part-time services to third persons.

This bill provides that if a temporary help service, employment agent, employer-paid employment agent (collectively, "staffing agency"), or employer that has procured the services of an employee from a staffing agency (third-party employer) offers the employee transportation to and from the third-party employer's workplace, the staffing agency or third-party employer may not charge the employee more than the actual cost of the transportation or 3 percent of the employee's total daily earnings, whichever is less, except that the transportation fee may not reduce the employee's total daily earnings to below the minimum wage. The bill also prohibits a staffing agency or third-party employer that requires an employee to use transportation provided by the staffing agency or third-party employer from charging the employee for the transportation. Finally, the bill prohibits a staffing agency or third-party employer from deducting the cost of transportation provided by the staffing agency or third-party employer from the employee's pay without the express written authorization of the employee and requires the staffing agency or third-party employer to furnish a signed copy of the authorization to the employee.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SB396, s. 1 Section 1. 105.01 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1r) (intro.) and amended to read:

SB396,2,13 105.01 (1r) (intro.) "Employment agent" means all persons who furnish a person that furnishes to persons seeking employment, information enabling or tending to enable such those persons to secure the same, or who furnish employment, that furnishes employers seeking laborers or other help of any kind, information enabling or tending to enable such those employers to secure such that help, or who keep that keeps a register of persons seeking employment or help as aforesaid, whether such agents conduct their the person conducts its operations at a fixed place of business, on the streets, or as transients a transient, and also whether such those operations constitute the principal business of such agents the person or only a sideline or an incident to another business. "Employment agent" does not include any of the following:

SB396, s. 2 Section 2. 105.01 (1) (a) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1r) (a).

SB396, s. 3 Section 3. 105.01 (1) (b) (intro.) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1r) (b) and amended to read:

SB396,3,5 105.01 (1r) (b) Any temporary help service defined as any person employing individuals to render part-time or temporary services to, for or under the direction of a 3rd person, if:.

SB396, s. 4 Section 4. 105.01 (1) (b) 1. of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (3) (a) and amended to read:

SB396,3,13 105.01 (3) (a) The person employing the individuals in addition to pays the wages or salaries pays, federal social security taxes, and state and federal unemployment contributions or taxes of those individuals, carries worker's compensation insurance covering those individuals as required by state law, and maintains liability insurance covering the acts of its employees those individuals while rendering services to, for, or under the direction of, a 3rd person; and.

SB396, s. 5 Section 5. 105.01 (1) (b) 2. of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (3) (b) and amended to read:

SB396,3,20 105.01 (3) (b) The employer's person's contracts with its employees those individuals do not contain any provision requiring the forfeiture or payment of any amount by the employee individual as liquidated damages upon the acceptance of permanent employment by an employee the individual with a 3rd person who has received the employee's individual's part-time or temporary services.

SB396, s. 6 Section 6. 105.01 (1) (c) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1r) (c).

SB396, s. 7 Section 7. 105.01 (1) (d) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1r) (d).

SB396, s. 8 Section 8. 105.01 (1) (e) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1r) (e).

SB396, s. 9 Section 9. 105.01 (1) (f) of the statutes is renumbered 105.01 (1g) and amended to read:

SB396,4,2 105.01 (1g) A person " Employer-paid employment agent" means an employment agent whose fees or charges are paid entirely by an employer.

SB396, s. 10 Section 10. 105.01 (1r) (f) of the statutes is created to read:

SB396,4,4 105.01 (1r) (f) An employer-paid employment agent.

SB396, s. 11 Section 11. 105.01 (3) (intro.) of the statutes is created to read:

SB396,4,8 105.01 (3) (intro.) "Temporary help service" means a person employing individuals to render part-time or temporary services to, for, or under the direction of, a 3rd person if all of the following apply:

SB396, s. 12 Section 12. 105.05 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB396,4,24 105.05 (1) No person, including a modeling agency that secures work for persons to act as live models or to model for photography, may engage in the business of an employment agent for profit, or receive any fee, charge, commission, or other compensation, directly or indirectly, for services as an employment agent, including modeling agencies which secure work for persons to act as live models or to model for photography, without first having obtained a license from the department and executing a bond under s. 105.06 (1). No person whose fees or charges are paid directly by employers employer-paid employment agent may engage in the business specified in s. 105.01 (1) (1r) (intro.) without first registering under s. 105.06 (2). The license constitutes permission from this state to operate as an employment agent for compensation. It The license is not transferable to or for the benefit of any person other than the licensee. A person licensed under this section shall subsection may not transact business as an employment agent at more than one office location or place of business without having first obtained from the department a separate license for each additional office in accordance with as provided in this chapter.

SB396, s. 13 Section 13. 105.06 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB396,5,4 105.06 (2) Persons whose fees or charges are paid directly by employers An employer-paid employment agent shall register annually with the department to engage in the business specified in s. 105.01 (1) (1r) (intro.). The fee to register under this subsection is $5.

SB396, s. 14 Section 14. 105.115 of the statutes is created to read:

SB396,5,16 105.115 Transportation fees. (1) If an employer procures the services of an employee from a temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent and the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent offers to the employee transportation to and from the employer's workplace, the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent may charge the employee no more than the actual cost of that transportation or 3 percent of the employee's total daily earnings, whichever is less, except that the transportation fee, when subtracted from the employee's total daily earnings, may not reduce those daily earnings to below the minimum amount that the employee is required to be paid for the day under ch. 104 or 29 USC 210 to 219, whichever is applicable.

SB396,5,24 (2) If an employer procures the services of an employee from a temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent and the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent requires the employee to use transportation to and from the employer's workplace provided by the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent, the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent may not charge the employee for that transportation.

SB396,6,11 (3) If an employer procures the services of an employee from a temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent and the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent provides to the employee transportation to and from the employer's workplace, the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent may not deduct the cost of the transportation from the pay of the employee without the express written authorization of the employee. The employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent shall furnish to the employee a signed copy of the authorization in English or, if the employee has difficulty understanding English, in the customary language of the employee.

SB396,6,24 (4) If the department receives a complaint and determines that there is probable cause to believe that an employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent has charged an employee more than the amount permitted under sub. (1) for transportation to and from the employer's workplace, has charged an employee for transportation to and from the employer's workplace in violation of sub. (2), or has deducted the cost of transportation to and from the employer's workplace without authorization or without furnishing a copy of the authorization to the employee in violation of sub. (3), the department shall have the right of entry and audit under ss. 105.08 and 105.09 as to the employer, temporary help service, employment agent, or employer-paid employment agent with respect to the complaint and may, under s. 109.09 (1), recover the amount of the overcharge, charge, or deduction, plus a penalty equal to the overcharge, charge, or deduction.

SB396, s. 15 Section 15. 105.15 of the statutes is amended to read:

SB396,7,7 105.15 General powers of department applicable; penalties. Such investigations, classifications, and orders shall be made as provided in s. 103.005 and the penalties specified in s. 103.005 (12) shall apply to and be imposed for any violation of ss. 105.01 to 105.11 105.115 or 105.13 to 105.15. The department may also order a person who operates an employment agency in violation of s. 105.05 (1) to make refunds as provided under s. 105.16 (2). Orders issued under this section are subject to review in the manner provided in ch. 227.

SB396, s. 16 Section 16. Initial applicability.

SB396,7,11 (1) Transportation contracts. This act first applies to a contract for the transportation of an employee to and from the employer's workplace that is entered into, or extended, modified, or renewed, on the effective date of this subsection.

SB396,7,12 (End)