Offers of Employment By Staffing Firms

In today's job market, an increasing number of employees obtain employment through staffing firm work arrangements. Staffing firms may include temporary employment agencies, contract firms, facilities staffing firms, lease back firms, and entities involved in welfare-to-work programs. Often, a staffing firm will place an individual on its roster for possible consideration in the future for temporary work assignments with the firm's clients. Under this circumstance, does the staffing firm's listing of an individual on its roster constitute an offer of employment under the ADA such that the staffing firm may condition the ''offer'' on the results of a medical examination? According to the EEOC, the answer is ''no.'' This is so because, in the EEOC's view, at this preliminary stage of the relationship, a staffing firm and an individual applying for a temporary work assignment with the firm do not intend to create an employer-employee relationship. Rather, the parties merely have agreed that the staffing firm will consider the person for specific work assignments in the future and the individual will consider accepting those assignments, depending upon availability and the desirability of the assignment.