HB 18-1435

HB 18-1435, also known as the Protection of Colorado Call Center Jobs bill, aims to protect call center jobs in Colorado by requiring businesses to notify the Office of Economic Development (OED) if they plan to move customer service positions out of the country. If a business fails to comply with this requirement, it faces penalties and is listed publicly. The bill also restricts public entities from giving subsidies or contracts to such businesses unless certain exceptions apply. Additionally, it mandates that call centers disclose their location and employee details to customers and ensures all services for public entities are provided by in-state employees. Since the status of the bill is "signed," it has been enacted into law and is now enforceable.

Official Summary

The bill requires a business to notify the office of economic development (OED) of any plans to terminate customer service employee positions and employees who are employed by or work on behalf of a call center in those positions in the state and relocate those positions outside of the United States. The bill specifies that a violation of the requirement to notify results in a civil penalty that the state's attorney general may recover. The bill requires the OED to maintain and make public a list of businesses that have terminated and relocated customer service employee positions outside of the United States. The bill provides a method for a business to remove their name from the list after a certain period of time. The bill specifies that a public entity may not award or provide a public subsidy to a business that has its name on the list maintained by the OED, but allows a waiver for this limitation in certain specific circumstances. The bill requires a business to ensure that each customer service employee who communicates with a customer on behalf of the business: Enables the customer to speak to an employee of the business on whose behalf the call center is communicating with the customer; Transfers the call to a person in the state if the customer service employee is not in the state; and Discloses to the customer: The state and country where the customer service employee is located; The customer service employee's employee number; and The name of the customer service employee's employer. The bill specifies that a public entity must give preference to a business that does not appear on the list of businesses maintained by the OED when awarding a contract for services. The bill requires all call center services performed for a public entity to be performed in the state by customer service employees employed in the state. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) , Read More