Temporary workers in Illinois have new protections — and the right to equal pay — thanks to a new state law passed in August.

The Temp Worker Fairness and Safety Act aims to prevent “permatemping,” where an employer keeps a temp worker indefinitely, by requiring employers pay temps similar wages as direct hires after 90 days on the job.

Worker advocates who helped pass the law took the first step toward enforcing it Tuesday by filing complaints against 15 staffing agencies that haven’t registered with the state, as required by the new law.

“We know that workers can’t wait, so we will not wait to either,” said Jacqueline Villanueva, a lawyer with the Chicago Workers Collaborative, which lobbied for the law and filed the complaints.

Staffing agencies that haven’t filed with the state could face fines up to $45,000, with additional civil penalties, Villanueva said.

The law, signed Aug. 4 by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, expands who can file complaints against staffing agencies. For over two decades, complaints could only be filed by the Illinois Department of Labor, which supporters say did not have enough investigators. Now complaints can also be filed by the state attorney general’s office and workers rights groups.

The new protections will help temporary workers like Silva Luna, who spent years working in a factory while facing harassment but had no one to turn to.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

“For fear of losing our jobs, we would not raise our voice, we stayed silent,” Luna said in Spanish at a celebration of the law Tuesday.

“But now with this new law, we are all going to have much better benefits. They are no longer going to push us aside,” Luna said.

The law makes it easier for workers to sue temp agencies, unionize and strike.

The law also requires employers to pay temp workers the same as non-temp workers after 90 days of employment at the same site. For temp workers who’ve been employed at the same place since the law was passed, the deadline for equal pay is Nov. 2.

There are more than 980,000 Illinoisans who worked a temp job last year, according to the American Staffing Association. There’s more than 300 temp labor agencies with more than 800 branch offices, according to the Illinois Department of Labor.

The law, which amends the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act of 2017, will raise temporary workers’ wages by $4 an hour, supporters of the law estimate.

The law was sponsored by state Rep. Edgar Gonzalez and state Sen. Robert Peters, both Chicago Democrats.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Gonzalez said he pushed for the law after hearing a heartbreaking story from a temp worker who came to his district office to talk about the abuse he saw on the job.

“This is why we’re doing this, because we can’t let this be normal. We cannot let this keep happening,” Gonzalez said.

Several temp workers came with him to Springfield to persuade other lawmakers to pass the bill. The law was passed with bipartisan support: 72-36 in the state House and 48-3 in the Senate.

Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea said the law outlaws retaliation against temp workers who refuse to cross picket lines. The new law requires temp agencies to tell temp workers that a workplace is on strike and give them the option to say no to an assignment.

“This bill stops pitting neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother,” Drea said. “Because if there’s a picket line, you can refuse not to cross that picket line.”

The law also makes it easier for workers to report and sue employers for racial discrimination.

Darius Childs lobbied for the law with the group Temp Worker Justice in Springfield, he said, because of discrimination he faced as a temp worker for seven years at a warehouse and a bakery.

Sixty-three percent of staffing agencies engaged in discrimination, especially against Black applicants, according to the 2021 Opening the Door report.

“It feels so good being part of making the bill pass,” Childs said.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Contributing: Kaitlin Washburn