Save New Jersey Call Center Jobs Act – Passes in the Assembly

A bill (A2651) introduced on March 9, 2012 and passed in the Assembly on March 15, 2012, would have a dramatic impact on New Jersey employers intending to outsource a call center (telephone-based or email-based) overseas. Under the bill, New Jersey employers (with 50 or more call center workers) who seek to relocate or transfer a substantial portion of a call center to a foreign country would be required to provide 120 days’ advance notice to the Commission of Labor and Workforce Development, or face a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each day the notification is not made.

The bill also would provide that once an employer provides the 120-day notice, that employer would be placed on a public list maintained by the Commissioner, would for three years be ineligible to receive any indirect or direct state grant, guaranteed loan, tax benefit and any other financial support, and would have to remit to the Commissioner the value of any direct or indirect monies received from the state.