Governor Cuomo Signs the New York Call Center Jobs Act

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed legislation (S.1826C/A.567C) enacting the New York Call Center Jobs Act to protect call center jobs in New York.

"As technology advances, more and more call centers are sending jobs overseas, leaving employees scrambling to find work to support themselves and their families," Governor Cuomo said. "This legislation will protect New York's call center workers by putting in place serious financial disincentives for employers who move jobs out of New York."

The new law establishes rules within the Department of Labor to publicly track all call centers that move New York jobs to another country; imposes severe penalties against companies that fail to timely report such information; forces employers that received benefits for call centers from the State that move jobs from New York to another country to repay the value of any grant or guaranteed loans they have received for the call center in the past five years; and prohibit companies from receiving future state benefits for five years. State agencies would be required to make best efforts to ensure call center and customer service contracts are performed in New York.

The Department of Labor will compile an annual list of all center employers that relocate a call center to a foreign country or reduce their call center employment by at least 30%. That list will be available to the public through the Department's website.

Senator Tim Kennedy said, "With the signing of the New York Call Center Jobs Act, New York State is making it clear that we expect results when expending state dollars on economic benefits. As the lead sponsor of this bill for years, I've been proud to stand with CWA leadership and our brothers and sisters in labor to ensure New York taxpayers are not left footing the bill when corporations outsource jobs overseas after exploiting state contracts and incentives. I want to thank my colleagues in government for their diligent work to move this through the Legislature, and I am pleased to see Governor Cuomo sign this legislation into law."

Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal said, "With the Governor's signature on my bill, corporations now know that there will be consequences if they decide to ship good paying New York jobs call center out of state. For far too long, companies have padded their bottom lines at the expense of hardworking New Yorkers when their employers ship their jobs out of the state and increasingly, out of the country, to exploit lax worker protection and pay rules. With this important legislation, New York protect the hardworking women and men employed in call centers statewide."