Illinois Temp Labor Law and What Client Companies Must Do

If you bring in temporary workers through a staffing agency anywhere in Illinois, the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (820 ILCS 175) applies to you as well as to the agency. The law calls your business the "third party client," and it gives you specific duties: check that the agency is registered with the Illinois Department of Labor, share hazard and pay information, keep hours records, and, since the 2023 amendments, help make sure long-term temps are paid like your own comparable employees.

Warehouse pickers in Joliet, production temps in Elk Grove Village and construction helpers on a Chicago jobsite can all fall under it. Here is what it asks of the company receiving the workers.

Who the Act covers

The Act applies to "day or temporary labor," which it defines broadly as work performed by a laborer placed by an agency with a client company, where the work is mostly manual or light industrial: material handling, assembly, packing, loading, cleaning, landscaping, construction labour and similar tasks. It does not cover professional or clerical placements, so an agency sending you a bookkeeper or a receptionist is outside its scope.

The test is the work, not the job title. A worker called a "warehouse associate" or "production team member" is covered if the actual tasks are manual. When unsure, ask your agency how it classifies the assignment.

Duty one: confirm the agency is registered

Every day and temporary labor service agency operating in Illinois must register with the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL). The client side of this rule is easy to miss: a company that contracts with an unregistered agency can face penalties of its own.

What to do before the first shift:

• Look the agency up on the registered agency list IDOL publishes on its website.
• Keep a dated screenshot or printout in your vendor file.
• Recheck once a year, or whenever you renew the service agreement, since registration has to be kept current.

Duty two: hazards and safety training

The 2023 amendments (Public Act 103-0437) sharpened the safety section. In plain terms, responsibility is split:

The agency must give each worker general safety training appropriate to the industry and the tasks before the assignment, free of charge, and must tell the worker about known hazards of the job.

The client company must give site-specific training on the hazards of your workplace and the equipment the worker will use, and document that it happened. You are also expected to tell the agency, in advance, about the work the temps will do and the hazards involved, and to let the agency look at the worksite and the tasks if it asks.

This lines up with what federal OSHA already expects of host employers, which we cover in more detail in our post on OSHA host employer duties for temporary workers. The Illinois version adds a paper trail. If an inspector or a lawyer asks who trained a temp on the stretch wrapper, you want a signed sheet with a date, not a supervisor's memory.

Duty three: equal pay after 90 days

This is the provision that drew the most attention. Under the amended Act, a day or temporary laborer assigned to the same client for more than 90 calendar days must be paid at least the rate of the lowest-paid directly hired employee who has the same level of seniority and does substantially similar work. The agency must also provide equivalent benefits, or pay the hourly cash equivalent of what those benefits cost.

The agency is the employer and writes the paycheque, but it cannot meet this rule without information only you have. The law requires the client to give the agency what it needs to calculate pay and benefits for comparable roles. In practice, that means:

• the starting wage and current pay scale for the matching in-house job
• how seniority affects pay at your company
• the benefits that job carries and their cost

Some clients prefer to rotate temps out before day 90 to avoid the calculation. That is a business decision with its own costs: you lose trained people right when they become productive. For roles you expect to last, it is often cheaper to plan the comparable rate into the budget from the start, or to convert the worker to your own payroll. Our guide on when to convert a temp worker to permanent walks through that choice.

Staffing industry groups challenged the equal pay section in court after it passed. Before you set a policy around it, ask your employment lawyer for the current status and how it applies to your sites.

Duty four: records of hours

The Act requires a record of the hours each temp works at your site. Usually the agency supplies a work verification form or an electronic timekeeping system, and the client confirms the hours. Whatever the method, the record should show:

• the worker's name
• the date and the client site
• the start and end time, including meal breaks

Hours disputes are a common complaint under this Act, and a clean timekeeping process protects both sides.

Other rules worth knowing

A few more sections affect how you work with an agency in Illinois:

• Strikes and lockouts. An agency may not send temps to a site where a strike, lockout or other labour dispute is under way without first telling the workers in writing. Workers can decline that assignment without losing their spot with the agency.
• Minimum pay when not used. A temp who is sent to your site and turned away, or who works less than the minimum, generally must be paid for at least four hours at the agreed rate. If plans change, tell the agency before the van leaves.
• Transportation. If the agency transports workers to your site, it cannot charge them more than the actual cost, and the charge is capped at 3% of the worker's daily wages. Vehicles must meet safety and insurance requirements.
• Written notice to the worker. At dispatch, the agency has to give each worker a written notice that includes the client name and site, the type of work, the pay rate and the safety equipment needed. You can help by keeping the agency's information about your site accurate.
• Shared liability. In some situations the client can be held jointly responsible for unpaid wages owed to temps placed at its site. A reputable, registered agency with sound payroll is the first line of protection.

A short client checklist for Illinois

Before the first assignment:

1. Print the agency's IDOL registration and file it.
2. Send the agency a written description of each role, the tasks, the equipment and the known hazards.
3. Share comparable in-house pay and benefits for any role likely to run past 90 days.
4. Prepare a site-specific safety orientation and a sign-off sheet.
5. Agree on the timekeeping method and who approves hours.
6. Put cancellation and short-notice rules in the service agreement so the four-hour minimum does not surprise anyone.

For a deeper look at what a temp workforce needs on day one, see our warehouse staffing page and the details on staffing in Chicago.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act apply to office temps?

Generally no. The Act targets manual and light industrial work such as warehouse, production, cleaning, landscaping and construction labour. Professional and clerical placements fall outside its definition of day and temporary labor.

What happens if a company uses an unregistered staffing agency in Illinois?

The client company can be penalized for contracting with an agency that is not registered with the Illinois Department of Labor. Checking the IDOL registered agency list before signing, and keeping proof of that check, is the simplest way to avoid the problem.

When does the 90-day equal pay rule start counting?

The count is based on calendar days assigned to the same client company, not hours worked. Once a temp passes 90 calendar days with you, the agency must pay at least what your lowest-paid comparable direct hire with the same seniority earns, plus equivalent benefits or their cash value.

Who provides safety training to temp workers in Illinois?

Both parties do. The agency provides general safety training before the assignment at no cost to the worker, and the client company provides site-specific training on its own hazards and equipment, with documentation.

Planning temp labour in Illinois

If you need warehouse, production, event or construction help in Chicago or elsewhere in Illinois, tell us about the roles, the start date and how long you expect the work to last. We will follow up in writing with a proposal that spells out the roles, rates and site requirements. Request a quote here.