I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2909 
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 disclo-
sure of the physical location of business agents engaging in customer 
service communications, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 1, 2013 
Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. 
GRIMM, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, and Mr. GIBSON) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, Oversight 
and Government Reform, and Education and the Workforce, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
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 pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The United States Call 
Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means a 
Federal or State executive agency or a military de-
partment. 
(2) BUSINESS
ENTITY.—The term ‘‘business 
entity’’ means any organization, corporation, trust, 
partnership, sole proprietorship, unincorporated as-
sociation, or venture established to make a profit, in 
whole or in part, by purposefully availing itself of 
the privilege of conducting commerce in the United 
States. 
(3) CALL
CENTER.—The term ‘‘call center’’ 
means a facility or other operation whereby employ-
ees receive incoming telephone calls, emails, or other 
electronic communication for the purpose of pro-
viding customer assistance or other service. 
(4) CONSUMER.—The term ‘‘consumer’’ means 
any individual within the territorial jurisdiction of 
the United States who purchases, transacts, or con-
tracts for the purchase or transaction of any goods, 
merchandise, or services, not for resale in the ordi-
nary course of the individual’s trade or business, but 
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for the individual’s use or that of a member of the 
individual’s household. 
(5) CUSTOMER
SERVICE
COMMUNICATION.— 
The term ‘‘customer service communication’’ means 
any telecommunication or wire communication be-
tween a consumer and a business entity in further-
ance of commerce. 
(6) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ means 
any business enterprise that employs in a call cen-
ter— 
(A) 50 or more employees, excluding part- 
time employees; or 
(B) 50 or more employees who in the ag-
gregate work at least 1,500 hours per week (ex-
clusive of hours of overtime). 
(7) PART-TIME EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘part- 
time employee’’ means an employee who is employed 
for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or 
who has been employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 
months preceding the date on which notice is re-
quired. 
(8) 
RELOCATING
AND
RELOCATION.—The 
terms ‘‘relocating’’ and ‘‘relocation’’ refer to the clo-
sure of a call center, or the cessation of operations 
of a call center, or 1 or more facilities or operating 
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units within a call center comprising at least 30 per-
cent of the call center’s, or operating unit’s, total 
volume when measured against the previous 12- 
month average call volume of operations or substan-
tially similar operations to a location outside of the 
United States. 
(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Labor. 
(10) TELECOMMUNICATION.—The term ‘‘tele-
communication’’ means the transmission, between or 
among points specified by the communicator, of in-
formation of the communicator’s choosing, without 
change in the form or content of the information as 
sent and received. 
(11) WIRE COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNICA-
TION BY WIRE.—The term ‘‘wire communication’’ or 
‘‘communication by wire’’ means the transmission of 
writing, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds of all 
kinds by aid of wire, cable, or other like connection 
between the points of origin and reception of such 
transmission, including all instrumentalities, facili-
ties, apparatus, and services (among other things, 
the receipt, forwarding, and delivery of communica-
tions) incidental to such transmission. 
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SEC. 3. LIST OF CALL CENTERS RELOCATING OVERSEAS 
AND INELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS OR GUAR-
ANTEED LOANS. 
(a) LIST.— 
(1) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not fewer than 120 
days before relocating a call center to a location 
outside of the United States, an employer shall 
notify the Secretary of such relocation. 
(B) PENALTY.—A person who violates sub-
paragraph (A) shall be subject to a civil penalty 
not to exceed $10,000 for each day of violation. 
(2) ESTABLISHMENT
AND
MAINTENANCE
OF 
LIST.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish, maintain, and make available to the 
public a list of all employers who relocate a call 
center as described in paragraph (1)(A). 
(B) TERM.—Each employer included in 
the list required by subparagraph (A) shall re-
main on the list for a period not to exceed 3 
years after each instance of relocating a call 
center. 
(C) REMOVAL.—The Secretary may re-
move an employer from the list required by sub-
paragraph (A) if the Secretary determines that 
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the employer has relocated a call center from a 
location outside of the United States to a loca-
tion in the United States. 
(b) INELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS OR GUARANTEED 
LOANS.— 
(1) INELIGIBILITY.—Except as provided in sub-
section (b) and notwithstanding any other provision 
of law, an employer who appears on the list required 
by subsection (a)(2)(A) shall be ineligible for any di-
rect or indirect Federal grants or Federal guaran-
teed loans for 5 years after the date such employer 
was added to the list. 
(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary, in consulta-
tion with the appropriate agency providing a loan or 
grant, may waive the eligibility restriction provided 
under subsection (a) if the employer applying for 
such loan or grant demonstrates that a lack of such 
loan or grant would— 
(A) threaten national security; 
(B) result in substantial job loss in the 
United States; or 
(C) harm the environment. 
(c) PREFERENCE IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING FOR 
NOT RELOCATING
A CALL CENTER OVERSEAS.—The 
head of an agency, when awarding a civilian or defense- 
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related contract, shall give preference to a United States 
employer that does not appear on the list required by sub-
section (a)(2)(A). 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 
on the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION RELATED TO FEDERAL 
BENEFITS FOR WORKERS. 
No provision of section 3 shall be construed to permit 
withholding or denial of payments, compensation, or bene-
fits under any provision of Federal law (including Federal 
unemployment compensation, disability payments, or 
worker retraining or readjustment funds) to workers em-
ployed by employers that relocate operations outside the 
United States. 
SEC. 5. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE BY BUSINESS ENTITIES EN-
GAGED IN CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMUNICA-
TIONS OF PHYSICAL LOCATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), a business entity that either initiates or receives a cus-
tomer service communication shall require that each of its 
employees or agents participating in the communication 
disclose their physical location at the beginning of each 
customer service communication so initiated or received. 
(b) EXCEPTIONS.— 
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(1) BUSINESS
ENTITIES
LOCATED
IN
THE 
UNITED
STATES.—The requirements of subsection 
(a) shall not apply to a customer service communica-
tion involving a business entity if all of the employ-
ees or agents of the business entity participating in 
such communication are physically located in the 
United States. 
(2) COMMUNICATION INITIATED BY CONSUMER 
KNOWINGLY
TO
FOREIGN
ENTITY
OR
ADDRESS.— 
The requirements of subsection (a) shall not apply 
to an employee or agent of a business entity partici-
pating in a customer service communication with a 
consumer if— 
(A) the customer service communication 
was initiated by the consumer; 
(B) the employee or agent is physically lo-
cated outside the United States; and 
(C) the consumer knows or reasonably 
should know that the employee or agent is 
physically located outside the United States. 
(3) EMERGENCY SERVICES.—The requirements 
of subsection (a) shall not apply to a customer serv-
ice communication relating to the provision of emer-
gency services (as defined by the Federal Trade 
Commission). 
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