Dive Brief:
- Senate Democrats introduced a bill last week, the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, to discourage businesses from moving call center operations overseas.
- The bill, which is sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, would withhold federal grants and contracts from companies that relocate call center operations overseas. It would also require companies to identify the location of the call center and allow the customer to be transferred to a U.S. call center if requested.
- Under the legislation, companies that move call center operations overseas, or contract customer service to another business that relocates call center work, would be required to notify the Department of Labor at least 120 days before the change or be subject to $10,000 in fines per day.
Dive Insight:
The proposed legislation aims to protect jobs and personal data, which is a growing concern among customers.
Data that passes through overseas call centers could come under the control of foreign companies and governments, but keeping call center data in the U.S. helps protect it, according to Brown.
The legislation would also keep more jobs in the U.S., aiming to reverse a trend of offshoring jobs, according to Casey.
“Call center closures and downsizing have occurred in all regions and across industries, with significant losses occurring in the banking, finance and insurance sectors,” Casey said in a prepared statement.
Fourteen Democratic and Independent senators signed on to the bill as co-sponsors.
Casey previously introduced the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act of 2017, but the legislation failed to make it to the floor for a vote.
