II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3402 

To require the Secretary of Labor to maintain a publicly available list of 

all employers that relocate a call center overseas, 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, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2012 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. BROWN of Ohio) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Labor to maintain a publicly 

available list of all employers that relocate a call center 

overseas, 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, and for other purposes. 

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 of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means a 

7 Federal or State executive agency or a military de8 partment. 

9 (2) BUSINESS ENTITY.—The term ‘‘business 

10 entity’’ means any organization, corporation, trust, 

11 partnership, sole proprietorship, unincorporated as12 sociation, or venture established to make a profit, in 

13 whole or in part, by purposefully availing itself of 

14 the privilege of conducting commerce in the United 

15 States. 

16 (3) CALL CENTER.—The term ‘‘call center’’ 

17 means a facility or other operation whereby employ18 ees receive incoming telephone calls, emails, or other 

19 electronic communication for the purpose of pro20 viding customer assistance or other service. 

21 (4) CONSUMER.—The term ‘‘consumer’’ means 

22 any individual within the territorial jurisdiction of 

23 the United States who purchases, transacts, or con24 tracts for the purchase or transaction of any goods, 

25 merchandise, or services, not for resale in the ordi26 nary course of the individual’s trade or business, but 


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1 for the individual’s use or that of a member of the 

2 individual’s household. 

3 (5) CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMUNICATION.— 

4 The term ‘‘customer service communication’’ means 

5 any telecommunication or wire communication be6 tween a consumer and a business entity in further7 ance of commerce. 

8 (6) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ means 

9 any business enterprise that employs in a call cen10 ter— 

11 (A) 50 or more employees, excluding part12 time employees; or 

13 (B) 50 or more employees who in the ag14 gregate work at least 1,500 hours per week (ex15 clusive of hours of overtime). 

16 (7) PART-TIME EMPLOYEE.—the term ‘‘part17 time employee’’ means an employee who is employed 

18 for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or 

19 who has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 

20 months preceding the date on which notice is re21 quired. 

22 (8) RELOCATING AND RELOCATION.—The 

23 terms ‘‘relocating’’ and ‘‘relocation’’ refer to the clo24 sure of a call center, or the cessation of operations 

25 of a call center, or 1 or more facilities or operating 


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1 units within a call center comprising at least 30 per2 cent of the call center’s, or operating unit’s, total 

3 volume when measured against the previous 12- 

4 month average call volume of operations or substan5 tially similar operations to a location outside of the 

6 United States. 

7 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of Labor. 

9 (10) TELECOMMUNICATION.—The term ‘‘tele10 communication’’ means the transmission, between or 

11 among points specified by the communicator, of in12 formation of the communicator’s choosing, without 

13 change in the form or content of the information as 

14 sent and received. 

15 (11) WIRE COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNICA16 TION BY WIRE.—The term ‘‘wire communication’’ or 

17 ‘‘communication by wire’’ means the transmission of 

18 writing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds of all 

19 kinds by aid of wire, cable, or other like connection 

20 between the points of origin and reception of such 

21 transmission, including all instrumentalities, facili22 ties, apparatus, and services (among other things, 

23 the receipt, forwarding, and delivery of communica24 tions) incidental to such transmission. 


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1 SEC. 3. LIST OF CALL CENTERS RELOCATING OVERSEAS 

2 AND INELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS OR GUAR3 ANTEED LOANS. 

4 (a) LIST.— 

5 (1) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not fewer than 120 

7 days before relocating a call center to a location 

8 outside of the United States, an employer shall 

9 notify the Secretary of such relocation. 

10 (B) PENALTY.—A person who violates sub11 paragraph (A) shall be subject to a civil penalty 

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

13 (2) ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF

14 LIST.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall es16 tablish, maintain, and make available to the 

17 public a list of all employers who relocate a call 

18 center as described in paragraph (1)(A). 

19 (B) TERM.—Each employer included in 

20 the list required by subparagraph (A) shall re21 main on the list for a period not to exceed 3 

22 years after each instance of relocating a call 

23 center. 

24 (C) REMOVAL.—The Secretary may re25 move an employer from the list required by sub26 paragraph (A) if the Secretary determines that 


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1 the employer has relocated a call center from a 

2 location outside of the United States to a loca3 tion in the United States. 

4 (b) INELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS OR GUARANTEED

5 LOANS.— 

6 (1) INELIGIBILITY.—Except as provided in sub7 section (b) and notwithstanding any other provision 

8 of law, an employer who appears on the list required 

9 by subsection (a)(2)(A) shall be ineligible for any di10 rect or indirect Federal grants or Federal guaran11 teed loans for 5 years after the date such employer 

12 was added to the list. 

13 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary, in consulta14 tion with the appropriate agency providing a loan or 

15 grant, may waive the eligibility restriction provided 

16 under subsection (a) if the employer applying for 

17 such loan or grant demonstrates that a lack of such 

18 loan or grant would— 

19 (A) threaten national security; 

20 (B) result in substantial job loss in the 

21 United States; or 

22 (C) harm the environment. 

23 (c) PREFERENCE IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING FOR

24 NOT RELOCATING A CALL CENTER OVERSEAS.—The 

25 head of an agency, when awarding a civilian or defenseVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:55 Jul 20, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3402.IS S3402

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1 related contract, shall give preference to a United States 

2 employer that does not appear on the list required by sub3 section (a)(2)(A). 

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

5 on the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act. 

7 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION RELATED TO FEDERAL 

8 BENEFITS FOR WORKERS. 

9 No provision of section 3 shall be construed to permit 

10 withholding or denial of payments, compensation, or bene11 fits under any provision of Federal law (including Federal 

12 unemployment compensation, disability payments, or 

13 worker retraining or readjustment funds) to workers em14 ployed by employers that relocate operations outside the 

15 United States. 

16 SEC. 5. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE BY BUSINESS ENTITIES EN17 GAGED IN CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMUNICA18 TIONS OF PHYSICAL LOCATION. 

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

20 (b), a business entity that either initiates or receives a cus21 tomer service communication shall require that each of its 

22 employees or agents participating in the communication 

23 disclose their physical location at the beginning of each 

24 customer service communication so initiated or received. 

25 (b) EXCEPTIONS.— 


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1 (1) BUSINESS ENTITIES LOCATED IN THE

2 UNITED STATES.—The requirements of subsection 

3 (a) shall not apply to a customer service communica4 tion involving a business entity if all of the employ5 ees or agents of the business entity participating in 

6 such communication are physically located in the 

7 United States. 

8 (2) COMMUNICATION INITIATED BY CONSUMER

9 KNOWINGLY TO FOREIGN ENTITY OR ADDRESS.— 

10 The requirements of subsection (a) shall not apply 

11 to an employee or agent of a business entity partici12 pating in a customer service communication with a 

13 consumer if— 

14 (A) the customer service communication 

15 was initiated by the consumer; 

16 (B) the employee or agent is physically lo17 cated outside the United States; and 

18 (C) the consumer knows or reasonably 

19 should know that the employee or agent is 

20 physically located outside the United States. 

21 (3) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The requirements 

22 of subsection (a) shall not apply to a customer serv23 ice communication relating to the provision of emer24 gency services (as defined by the Federal Trade 

25 Commission). 


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1 (4) BUSINESS ENTITIES AND CUSTOMER SERV2 ICE COMMUNICATIONS EXCLUDED BY FEDERAL

3 TRADE COMMISSION.—The Federal Trade Commis4 sion may exclude certain classes or types of business 

5 entities or customer service communications from 

6 the requirements of subsection (a) if the Commission 

7 finds exceptionally compelling circumstances that 

8 justify such exclusion. 

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

10 CENTER.—A business entity that is subject to the require11 ments of subsection (a) shall, at the request of a customer, 

12 transfer the customer to a customer service agent who is 

13 physically located in the United States. 

14 (d) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—Each year, 

15 each business entity that participates in a customer service 

16 communication shall certify to the Federal Trade Commis17 sion that it has complied or failed to comply with the re18 quirements of subsections (a) and (c). 

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

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Com21 mission shall promulgate such regulations as may be nec22 essary to carry out the provisions of this section. 

23 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The requirements of sub24 section (a) shall apply with respect to customer service 


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1 communications occurring on or after the date that is 1 

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

3 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 

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

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

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

7 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regard8 ing unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 

9 (b) POWERS OF FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commis11 sion shall prevent any person from violating section 

12 5 and any regulation promulgated thereunder, in the 

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

14 same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 

15 applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 

16 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor17 porated into and made a part of this Act. 

18 (2) PENALTIES.—Any person who violates regu19 lations promulgated under section 5 shall be subject 

20 to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and 

21 immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commis22 sion Act in the same manner, by the same means, 

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

24 though all applicable terms and provisions of the 


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1 Federal Trade Commission Act were incorporated 

2 into and made part of this Act. 

3 (c) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in this sec4 tion or section 5 shall be construed to limit the authority 

5 of the Federal Trade Commission under any other provi6 sion of law. 

Æ 


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