Federal Bill Would Make Companies That Offshore Call Centers Ineligible for Federal Grants or Loans
Calling outsourcing “one of the scourges of our economy,” Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.) has introduced a bill that would make companies that relocate call centers to locations outside of the United States ineligible for federal grant or guaranteed loan programs for five years.
Under the U.S. Call Center and Consumer Protection Act (HR 3596), covered employers must provide at least 120 days’ notice to the Secretary of Labor prior to relocation. Companies that fail to comply with this notice provision face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day The Act would also require the Secretary of Labor to maintain a publicly available list of these companies, with each company remaining on the list for up to three years after each instance of relocation. With certain limited exceptions, any company on this list would be ineligible for any direct or indirect federal grants or guaranteed loan programs for a period of five years from when they were added to the list, and federal and state agencies would have to give preference in civilian or defense contracting to U.S. companies not on the list.
The bill also separately requires that any call center agents located outside of the United States to (1) disclose their physical location at the beginning of all calls and (2) to transfer the call back to a U.S.-based call center upon the customer’s request, unless the customer initiates the call and knew or should have known the call was to a customer service center outside the U.S.
Read our alert on the U.S. Call Center and Consumer Protection Act here.
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