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S. B. No. 369 As IntroducedAs Introduced
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Cosponsor:
Senator Skindell
A BILL
To enact sections 4174.01, 4174.02, 4174.03, 4174.04,
4174.05, 4174.06, and 4174.07 of the Revised Code
to require the Director of Commerce to keep a list
of Ohio call centers, or facilities or operating
units within a call center, that transfer or
relocate to a foreign country, to prohibit call
centers operating in a foreign country from
receiving state funds, and to require call center
employees to disclose their location to United
States consumers if the call center is operating
in a foreign country and transfer a consumer to a
United States call center upon request.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 4174.01, 4174.02, 4174.03, 4174.04,
4174.05, 4174.06, and 4174.07 of the Revised Code be enacted to
read as follows:
Sec. 4174.01. As used in this chapter:
(A) "Call center" means a facility or other operation whereby
employees receive telephone calls or other electronic
communication for the purpose of providing customer assistance or
other service.
(B) "Consumer" means any individual within the territorial
jurisdiction of the United States who is involved in a transaction
primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
(C) "Customer service communication" means any
telecommunication or wire communication between a consumer and a
call center in furtherance of commerce.
(D) "Employer" means any individual, partnership,
association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group
of persons acting in the interest of an employer that employs
fifty or more full-time employees or fifty or more employees that
in the aggregate work at least one thousand five hundred hours per
week, excluding overtime hours, for the purpose of staffing a call
center.
(E) "Facility or operating unit" means a section of a call
center comprising at least thirty per cent of the call center's
total operating volume of telephone calls or other electronic
communications when measured against the average volume of those
operations during the immediately previous twelve months.
Sec. 4174.02. (A) An employer shall notify the director of
commerce at least one hundred twenty days prior to either of the
following:
(1) The relocation or transfer of a call center from this
state to a foreign country;
(2) The relocation or transfer of a facility or operating
unit within a call center from this state to a foreign country.
(B) After a hearing conducted in accordance with Chapter 119.
of the Revised Code, an employer found in violation of the
notification requirement of division (A) of this section shall be
subject to a civil penalty in an amount that shall not exceed ten
thousand dollars for each day the employer fails to provide the
notification. The director may reduce the penalty or waive the
penalty upon the showing of just cause.
(C) Beginning six months after the effective date of this
section, and every six months thereafter, the director shall
compile a list of all call center employers that relocate a call
center or one or more facilities or operating units within a call
center from this state to a foreign country. An employer shall
remain on the list for a period not to exceed three years after
each instance of relocation to a foreign country.
(D) If an employer relocates or transfers a call center, or a
facility or operating unit within a call center, from this state
to a foreign country, but subsequently returns that same call
center, facility, or operating unit to the United States, the
employer may notify the director of the return. If the employer's
name is on the list required under division (C) of this section
because of the relocation or transfer of the returned call center,
facility, or operating unit at the time the employer notifies the
director, the director shall remove the employer's name from this
list.
(E) The director shall make the list required under division
(C) of this section available to the public.
Sec. 4174.03. (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law
to the contrary, an employer that appears on the list described in
division (C) of section 4174.02 of the Revised Code is ineligible
to receive any direct or indirect state grant, state guaranteed
loan, tax benefit, or other financial support from the state until
the employer no longer appears on the list.
(B) The director of commerce, in consultation with the
appropriate state agency providing any financial support described
in division (A) of this section, may waive the requirement
provided in division (A) of this section if the employer
demonstrates to the director that the requirement would do any of
the following:
(1) Threaten state or national security;
(2) Result in substantial job loss in this state;
(3) Harm the environment.
(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, a department or agency of this state, in making or
awarding a contract for call center services, shall grant a
preference for the contract to an otherwise qualified business
that is located in this state and that employs residents of this
state.
Sec. 4174.04. (A) A call center that initiates or receives a
customer service communication shall require that each employee or
agent of the call center participating in the communication to
disclose the employee's or agent's physical location at the
beginning of each customer service communication that is initiated
or received except in either of the following circumstances:
(1) The employee or agent of the call center involved in the
customer service communication is physically located in the United
States.
(2) The consumer initiates the communication with the call
center employee or agent who is physically located outside of the
United States and the consumer knows or reasonably should know
that the employee or agent is physically located outside of the
United States.
(B) A call center that is subject to the requirements of
division (A) of this section shall, at the request of a consumer,
transfer the consumer to a customer service agent who is
physically located inside the United States.
Sec. 4174.05. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to
permit the withholding or denial of payments, compensation, or
benefits under any state law, including unemployment compensation
benefits, disability benefits, or worker retraining or
readjustment benefits, to employees employed by an employer that
relocates a call center or transfers one or more facilities or
operating units within a call center to a foreign country.
Sec. 4174.06. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as
creating, establishing, or authorizing a private cause of action
by an aggrieved person against an employer who has violated, or is
alleged to have violated, any provision of this chapter.
Sec. 4174.07. The director of commerce shall adopt rules in
accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code as the director
considers appropriate to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
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