Temporary Employment

After retiring from his post as police chief in Long Beach, Bill Ellis entered the world of temp workers. No, he's not in the typing pool. Ellis became temporary police chief of West Covina for several months in 1998 and then worked a similar stint last spring in Manhattan Beach. More temporary positions may be ahead for him, all arranged through an unusual agency that helps California cities and counties fill high-end, but short-term, vacancies with retired government executives.

Adecco, the world's largest temporary-employment company, said it will buy Olsten Corp.'s staffing units for $1.46 billion, to take over the No. 1 spot in the U.S., the world's top market for temporary jobs. Olsten shareholders would exchange their stock for $8.75 in Adecco shares and cash, as well as shares in Olsten's health-care business, which it will spin off. Adecco also would assume $750 million in debt.

In an unprecedented move, the Census Bureau has temporarily revised its policy to allow noncitizens to be hired as temporary census workers, a crucial move in cities such as Los Angeles where ethnically diverse communities need bilingual assistance. Ken Ellwanger, deputy regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau, said in a news conference Thursday that the temporary waiver will help his agency tap into a bigger pool of applicants.

Staffing companies don't get paid until somebody shows up for work. Filling jobs fast is the goal. And helping some of the nation's biggest staffing companies do this is an upstart Manhattan Beach software firm called PeopleMover Inc. "These companies are in the just-in-time work force business," said Jim Jonassen, PeopleMover's chief executive. "But they leave open too many job orders."

Atlantic Richfield Co., which was sued last week by nine current and former temporary workers who accused the oil company of misclassifying employees as temporary or contract workers to avoid paying benefits, has responded by saying that the plaintiffs never worked for the Los Angeles-based firm but were all employees of independent oil field service companies. Arco earlier had declined to comment until it studied the suit.

Nine current and former temporary workers sued Atlantic Richfield Co. on Thursday, accusing the Los Angeles oil company of misclassifying employees to avoid paying benefits during the last 10 years--a type of workplace dispute that is increasingly finding its way to court. The class-action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeks for the workers the same health and pension benefits given to Arco's regular employees, who numbered 18,000 at the end of 1998.

Think temp worker for the new economy and what do you see? Computer whizzes who choose flexibility over the boring 9-to-5 and get paid nicely for it? Think again--of hats, callused hands, grease under the fingernails. Think assembly lines. Forklifts. Machines that actually make things. The big growth in temporary staffing--which has outpaced overall employment growth for more than a decade--is not found in offices or on the Internet, but in factories and warehouses.

In a decision that challenges corporate America's growing use of temporary workers to cut labor costs, a U.S. appeals court has ruled that thousands of workers Microsoft Corp. has employed through staffing agencies since 1986 are entitled to stock options. The decision could, if upheld, cost Microsoft tens of millions of dollars and force changes in the temp industry, which handles nearly 3 million employees a day.