Indianapolis Law Aims to Curb Temp ‘Blacklisting’

A rule to prevent Indianapolis hotels from “blacklisting” workers from temporary staffing firms received approval July 16 from the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council, according to a report by Indiana Public Media. The rule now goes to the mayor for his signature.

The rule prohibits hotels from signing deals with contractors—such as staffing firms—that prevent the hotels from hiring the contractor’s employees directly, according to city documents.

The impetus for Indianapolis’ rule stems from complaints earlier this year about staffing firm employees who provided cleaning services at hotels. The claims were that hotels wouldn’t hire them on directly—even if they were applying at a different hotel from the one where they worked if both hotels used the same staffing firm, according to news reports.

Workers claimed they had to wait six months to a year after leaving the staffing service before being hired directly by hotels.

Workers at Indianapolis hotels earlier this year also sued a staffing firm, Hospitality Staffing Solutions LLC, seeking unpaid overtime, according to court records. Several Indianapolis hotels were initially included as defendants in the lawsuit but have been dropped from the case.

Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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