I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3596 

To require a publicly available a list of all employers that relocate a call 

center overseas and to make such companies ineligible for Federal grants 

or guaranteed loans and to require disclosure of the physical location 

of business agents engaging in customer service communications. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 7, 2011 

Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. MICHAUD, and 

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Armed Services, 

and Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require a publicly available a list of all employers that 

relocate a call center overseas and to make such companies ineligible for Federal grants or guaranteed loans 

and to require disclosure of the physical location of business agents engaging in customer service communications. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The United States Call 

3 Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 As used in this Act— 

6 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ means a Federal or 

7 State executive agency and a military department; 

8 (2) the term ‘‘business entity’’ means any orga9 nization, corporation, trust, partnership, sole propri10 etorship, unincorporated association, or venture es11 tablished to make a profit, in whole or in part, by 

12 purposefully availing itself of the privilege of con13 ducting commerce in the United States; 

14 (3) the term ‘‘call center’’ means a facility or 

15 other operation whereby employees receive incoming 

16 telephone calls, emails, or other electronic commu17 nication for the purpose of providing customer as18 sistance or other service; 

19 (4) the term ‘‘consumer’’ means any individual 

20 within the territorial jurisdiction of the United 

21 States who purchases, transacts, or contracts for the 

22 purchase or transaction of any goods, merchandise, 

23 or services, not for resale in the ordinary course of 

24 the individual’s trade or business, but for the indi25 vidual’s use or that of a member of the individual’s 

26 household; 


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1 (5) the term ‘‘customer service communication’’ 

2 means any telecommunication or wire communica3 tion between a consumer and a business entity in 

4 furtherance of commerce; 

5 (6) the term ‘‘employer’’ means any business 

6 enterprise that employs in a call center— 

7 (A) 50 or more employees, excluding part8 time employees; or 

9 (B) 50 or more employees who in the ag10 gregate work at least 1,500 hours per week (ex11 clusive of hours of overtime); 

12 (7) the term ‘‘part-time employee’’ means an 

13 employee who is employed for an average of fewer 

14 than 20 hours per week or who has been employed 

15 for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the 

16 date on which notice is required; 

17 (8) the terms ‘‘relocating’’ and ‘‘relocation’’ 

18 refer to the closure of a call center, or the cessation 

19 of operations of a call center, or 1 or more facilities 

20 or operating units within a call center comprising at 

21 least 30 percent of the call center’s, or operating 

22 unit’s, total volume when measured against the pre23 vious 12-month average call volume of operations or 

24 substantially similar operations to a location outside 

25 of the United States; 


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1 (9) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

2 of Labor; 

3 (10) the term ‘‘telecommunication’’ means the 

4 transmission, between or among points specified by 

5 the communicator, of information of the communica6 tor’s choosing, without change in the form or con7 tent of the information as sent and received; and 

8 (11) the term ‘‘wire communication’’ or ‘‘com9 munication by wire’’ means the transmission of writ10 ing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds of all kinds 

11 by aid of wire, cable, or other like connection be12 tween the points of origin and reception of such 

13 transmission, including all instrumentalities, facili14 ties, apparatus, and services (among other things, 

15 the receipt, forwarding, and delivery of communica16 tions) incidental to such transmission. 

17 SEC. 3. LIST OF CALL CENTERS RELOCATING OVERSEAS 

18 AND INELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS OR GUAR19 ANTEED LOANS. 

20 (a) LIST.— 

21 (1) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not fewer than 120 

23 days before relocating a call center to a location 

24 outside of the United States, an employer shall 

25 notify the Secretary of such relocation. 


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1 (B) PENALTY.—A person who violates sub2 paragraph (A) shall be subject to a civil penalty 

3 not to exceed $10,000 for each day of violation. 

4 (2) LIST.—The Secretary shall maintain and 

5 make publicly available a list of all employers that 

6 relocate a call center, and such employers shall re7 main on the list for a period not to exceed 3 years 

8 after each instance of relocating a call center. 

9 (b) INELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS OR GUARANTEED

10 LOANS.— 

11 (1) INELIGIBILITY.—Except as provided in sub12 section (b) and notwithstanding any other provision 

13 of law, an employer that appears on the list de14 scribed in section 3(b) shall be ineligible for any di15 rect or indirect Federal grants or Federal guaran16 teed loans for 5 years after the date such employer 

17 was added to the list. 

18 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary, in consulta19 tion with the appropriate agency providing a loan or 

20 grant, may waive the eligibility restriction provided 

21 under subsection (a) if the employer applying for 

22 such loan or grant demonstrates that a lack of such 

23 loan or grant would— 

24 (A) threaten national security; 


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1 (B) result in substantial job loss in the 

2 United States; or 

3 (C) harm the environment. 

4 (c) PREFERENCE IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING FOR

5 NOT RELOCATING A CALL CENTER OVERSEAS.—The 

6 head of an agency, when awarding a civilian or defense7 related contract, shall give preference to a United States 

8 employer that does not appear on the list described in sec9 tion 3(b). 

10 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 

11 1 year after its enactment. 

12 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION RELATED TO FEDERAL 

13 BENEFITS FOR WORKERS. 

14 No provision of section 3 shall be construed to permit 

15 withholding or denial of payments, compensation, or bene16 fits under any Federal law (including Federal unemploy17 ment compensation, disability payments, or worker re18 training or readjustment funds) to workers employed by 

19 employers that relocate operations outside the United 

20 States. 

21 SEC. 5. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE BY BUSINESS ENTITIES EN22 GAGED IN CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMUNICA23 TIONS OF PHYSICAL LOCATION. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

25 (b), a business entity that either initiates or receives a cusVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:23 Dec 13, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3596.IH H3596

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1 tomer service communication shall require that each of its 

2 employees or agents participating in the communication 

3 disclose their physical location at the beginning of each 

4 customer service communication so initiated or received. 

5 (b) EXCEPTIONS.— 

6 (1) BUSINESS ENTITIES LOCATED IN THE

7 UNITED STATES.—The requirements of subsection 

8 (a) shall not apply to a customer service communica9 tion involving a business entity if all of the employ10 ees or agents of the business entity participating in 

11 such communication are physically located in the 

12 United States. 

13 (2) COMMUNICATION INITIATED BY CONSUMER

14 KNOWINGLY TO FOREIGN ENTITY OR ADDRESS.— 

15 The requirements of subsection (a) shall not apply 

16 to an employee or agent of a business entity partici17 pating in a customer service communication with a 

18 consumer if— 

19 (A) the customer service communication 

20 was initiated by the consumer; 

21 (B) the employee or agent is physically lo22 cated outside the United States; and 

23 (C) the consumer knows or reasonably 

24 should know that the employee or agent is 

25 physically located outside the United States. 


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1 (3) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The requirements 

2 of subsection (a) shall not apply to a customer serv3 ice communication relating to the provision of emer4 gency services (as defined by the Federal Trade 

5 Commission). 

6 (4) BUSINESS ENTITIES AND CUSTOMER SERV7 ICE COMMUNICATIONS EXCLUDED BY FEDERAL

8 TRADE COMMISSION.—The Federal Trade Commis9 sion may exclude certain classes or types of business 

10 entities or customer service communications from 

11 the requirements of subsection (a) if the Commission 

12 finds exceptionally compelling circumstances that 

13 justify such exclusion. 

14 (c) TRANSFER TO U.S.-BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE

15 CENTER.—A business entity that is subject to the require16 ments of subsection (a) shall, at the request of a customer, 

17 transfer the customer to a customer service agent who is 

18 physically located in the United States. 

19 (d) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—Each year, 

20 each business entity that participates in a customer service 

21 communication shall certify to the Federal Trade Commis22 sion that it has complied or failed to comply with the re23 quirements of subsection (a) and (c). 

24 (e) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

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1 mission shall promulgate such regulations as may be nec2 essary to carry out the provisions of this section. 

3 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The requirements of sub4 section (a) shall apply with respect to customer service 

5 communications occurring on or after the date that is 1 

6 year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any failure to comply with the 

9 provisions of section 5 shall be treated as a violation of 

10 a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 

11 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regard12 ing unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 

13 (b) POWERS OF FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commis15 sion shall prevent any person from violating section 

16 5 and any regulation promulgated thereunder, in the 

17 same manner, by the same means, and with the 

18 same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 

19 applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 

20 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor21 porated into and made a part of this Act. 

22 (2) PENALTIES.—Any person who violates regu23 lations promulgated under section 5 shall be subject 

24 to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and 

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1 sion Act in the same manner, by the same means, 

2 and with the same jurisdiction, power, and duties as 

3 though all applicable terms and provisions of the 

4 Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated 

5 into and made part of this Act. 

6 (c) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in this sec7 tion or section 5 shall be construed to limit the authority 

8 of the Federal Trade Commission under any other provi9 sion of law. 

Æ 


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