Temps Face 100-Day Break

Temporary contract workers at Microsoft will now be required to take a 100-day break in service after one year at the company. The abrupt policy change comes in response to litigation and ongoing criticism of Microsoft’s workforce practices. Microsoft lost one lawsuit when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that up to 10,000 temporary workers should have been allowed to participate in a Microsoft stock purchase plan. Another pending lawsuit seeks medical and retirement benefits. As a result, Microsoft has felt forced to distinguish more clearly between temps contracted from outside agencies and its own permanent staff. A rush of previously unplanned temp worker layoffs in June will increase the pressure on some project deadlines.

Microsoft has some 18,500 permanent employees in the Seattle area. Side by side with these permanent staff are some 5,000 contractors, many of whom pick up additional assignments when one ends. This is a common industry practice; estimates suggest that up to a quarter of the workers in California’s Silicon Valley are temps. Local groups such as WashTech, an organization assisting high-tech contractors in Washington State, argue that such “permatemps” should be entitled to full employee benefits.