A federal judge in New Jersey refused to put the state’s Temporary Workers Bill of Rights law on hold as a lawsuit aimed at halting the legislation goes through the courts, according to court records. The lawsuit was brought by the New Jersey Staffing Alliance, the American Staffing Association and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

The law, which covers specific worker types, would place several regulatory burdens on staffing firms, including requiring that temporary workers be paid the same as directly employed workers.

Right now, the trade groups are weighing their next steps.

“The associations are assessing the implications of the court’s ruling and determining what the next steps should be in their ongoing efforts to mitigate the effects of this onerous law,” the New Jersey Staffing Alliance said in a statement to SIA.

In a post, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association noted it was disappointed in the decision and that certain provisions of the law — including the equal pay provisions — will come into effect on Aug. 5.

“While NJBIA does not oppose the intent of the law to provide protection and transparency for temp workers, the provisions regarding wages and benefits will cause insurmountable problems for temp agencies and drive many out of business,” according to the post.

While the law might bring potential harm to the industry, the plaintiffs didn’t demonstrate they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims, US District Judge Christine O’Hearn wrote.

“Because the court concludes that plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims — one of the two ‘most critical,’ ‘gateway’ factors in the temporary and preliminary injunctive relief analysis — the court need not reach and offers no opinion regarding the additional factors, potential harm to nonmoving parties and the public interest.”

Attorneys Howard Wexler and Nicolaus Lussier of law firm Seyfarth Shaw wrote an article about the ramification of the law in Staffing Industry Review magazine.