Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Several States Enacting Call Center Relocation Laws and Fines
Several U.S. states have introduced legislation designed to keep call centers from jumping ship and relocating. The bills, which have been put forth across the country, are in response to an increasing number of call center businesses that are moving abruptly and without notice due to issues with taxes and other costs.
The states of Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia have all introduced call center legislation this year, to the tune of more than 20 relocation bills. California came up with a similar proposal last year, which was subsequently vetoed. The rash of bills is a result of growing concern over the offshoring and outsourcing trend among call centers, which typically move without providing advance notice to the state they currently do business in.
Many of the proposed bills would required call center employers to provide advance notice to the state if they are considering relocation, with penalties if they fail to comply. State officials would also be required to publish lists of those employers planning to transfer jobs out of state, while the call centers would be ineligible for tax and other financial incentives for several years.
New York and New Jersey have already adopted call center laws related to relocation, which are set to be enacted in less than six months. The New York Call Center Jobs Act requires employers to notify the state at least 100 days before relocating out of the state to another state or country. They must do so before reducing call center volume in NY by 30 percent or more, and will be penalized by up to $10,000 for each day they are in violation of the new law.
In NJ, the New Jersey Call Center Jobs Act outlines notification procedures for call centers relocating to foreign countries. It also requires companies with NJ call centers to maintain staffing levels capable of handling at least 65 percent of customer volume for telephone calls, email and other electronic communications. Those companies failing to notify or comply with the staffing mandates will be subject to penalties of up to $7,500 per day.
Alabama is ahead of the game, and enacted a call center law last September covering call center relocations out of state and imposing penalties of up to $10,000 per day for compliance failures. Call center employers in the state must provide notice 120 days prior to their relocation.
Nevada’s call center relocation law went into effect at the beginning of the year, and also covers call center employers planning to relocate to different countries. Penalties for noncompliance vary, but may reach $5,000 per day or more.
Colorado’s law represents a different approach to call center relocation, and went into effect last August. The measure requires the state Department of Labor and Employment to report on call center workforce and wage data annually as part its State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act.
The various state measures certainly sound a warning bell about the number of call centers relocating within the US as well as abroad. While the new laws may slow the steady egress, it’s clear that the US needs to do more in the way of providing skilled labor and incentives to call center businesses to keep companies on American soil.
Edited by Maurice Nagle