The new year is bringing legal changes that will affect staffing firms in the US that use workers on H-1B visas. For those operating in Ontario, legislation will provide for equal pay between temporary workers and traditionally employed workers.

Major legal developments affecting staffing firms this year are described in a report, “Legal Calendar 2018: Americas” by Fiona Coombe, director of legal and regulatory research at Staffing Industry Analysts.

Among the legal changes in the report:

Effective April 1, Ontario’s Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017, or Bill 148 will require employers to pay part-time, casual, temporary and seasonal employees who perform substantially the same kind of work in the same workplace the same wage rates as their full-time counterparts. Temporary help agencies must also pay employees who are doing substantially the same work in the same workplace as the other employees of the agency’s client at the same rate as regular employees of the agency’s client.

Portions of Bill 148 already took effect Jan. 1, including giving employees of temporary help agencies the right to receive one week’s notice or pay in lieu if an assignment that was scheduled to last longer than three months is terminated early, unless another assignment of at least one week is offered to the employee.

In the US, the Department of Homeland Security’s regulatory agenda for 2018 indicates the Trump administration will pursue plans to terminate work authorization for spouses of H-1B holders, overhaul the H-1B annual allotment process, revise H-1B eligibility and wage protections, and update the F-1 optional practical training program. Since the process for changes to the H-1B and F-1 optional practical training programs takes several months, it is unlikely any changes to the H-1B program process or eligibility criteria will take effect in time for the fiscal year 2019 application season beginning on April 1.

“Staffing firms and their clients need advance warning of developments that will impact the cost of hiring temporary staff or the availability of workers, so this report, published annually in January, highlights some of those changes,” Coombe said.