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Governor David Paterson of New York has found himself defending his state's use of temporary employees via staffing agencies and claims an inability to locate and hire permanent personnel as one of the reasons. Clearly, he and his staff didn't know about EmploymentCrossing.com and LawCrossing.com and the thousands of more than qualified applicants it offers employers - and yes, even state employers. He also wasn't aware that he could have posted an open job anywhere and LawCrossing.com would have located it and included it in its database. In fact, A. Harrison Barnes, founder of LawCrossing.com, incorporates a method of aggregating every newspaper's help wanted classifications in every state for inclusion in this database. So what else did Governor Paterson have to when questioned about the $1.4 million spent on temp agencies in 2009? He defended the numbers and quoted the $4.3 million spent in 2008 as justification that spending has curbed for these temporary employees. Further, the governor's office said using temps saves the state ten percent per employee each year. That's surprising since that number suggests a state employee's benefits package, including insurance, vacation and 401k matches are practically non existent if there's only a ten percent gap. Unless, of course, you discover temporary workers are paid higher rates than New York State's permanent full time workers. A. Harrison Barnes predicts problems for Governor Patterson, especially since The Civil Service Employees Association released a statement that unequivocally stated its position against the decision. In fact, it released a phone number for worker's to call for more information on an imminent lawsuit that's to be filed in the near future. Perhaps most disturbing is Governor Paterson's insistence that permanent workers could not be located to fill these positions. That's more than surprising since the national unemployment hovers around ten percent. Couple this with the fact an investigation revealed many of these "temp" workers have been employed with any number of the temporary employment agencies in the state for years - and who reported to the same "temp" position in countless state buildings. This means, of course, every time the temp receives his paycheck, the temp agency receives its paycheck too. A. Harrison Barnes is quick to point out it's not the workers' faults; they simply need a job as much as anyone else. There's also a strong possibility the temp agency does not offer any kind of benefits, such as medical insurance and just because these employees work in New York state positions does not me they work for New York. Most recently, the story broke of a woman, employed by the state with no ties to any temp agency, and was laid off at her job with a state run juvenile detention center. She discovered an open position with another facility, similar to the same job she had been performing for many years. She applied for the position and learned later the job was given to a temporary employee who worked for an employment agency. Frankly, it makes sense so many are frustrated. Ideally, the negative publicity will be enough to cause real change in Governor Paterson's office.
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