BPO sector monitoring new bill seeking to keep call centre jobs in the USA

 

The Global Services Association of Jamaica says it is monitoring the proposed "Keep Call Centers in America Act 2025".

 

US senators Ruben Gallego and Jim Justice introduced the new bipartisan bill on July 29.

 

The proposed act is to ensure call centre jobs remain in the US by limiting federal benefits for companies that ship them overseas.

 

It also imposes new disclosure rules for customer service interactions, and ties federal funding eligibility to domestic operations. 

 

The Keep Call Centers in America Act, requires the Department of Labour to maintain a public list of businesses that have relocated call center work overseas.

 

Employers will remain on this list for five years unless they return an equal or greater number of call center jobs to the U.S. or amend the terms of their contract with the entity performing their call center work to require the work be done in the U.S. 

 

The move will make employers on this list ineligible for new federal grants and federal guaranteed loans. 

 

Employers have 180 days to be removed from the list to be eligible for new grants and loans.

 

Wayne Sinclair, President of the Global Services Association of Jamaica,  says while it is unknown how many US companies with call center operations in Jamaica benefit from federal grants and federal guaranteed loans, "in my experience, that's not very common among the companies that we do business with here."

 

He says the provision which requires call center workers to immediately disclose to callers the physical location of the call center and/or whether artificial intelligence is being used is already in place.

 

If the act becomes law, call centre workers will be further required to transfer communications to a call center located in the United States if a customer requests that they do so.

 

In 2023, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill, said it was estimated that the Jamaican BPO sector contributes approximately 136 billion dollars to the economy annually, equivalent to about six per cent of gross domestic product.