Dept. of Labor Slaps Canine Call Centers With Big Fines

PawCo Telecommunications, Inc. has been singled out by the U.S. Department of Labor for a number of workplace violations, The Fluffington Post has learned.

The U.S. phone bank operations company is well known for outsourcing its labor – not to developing countries, as many of its competitors do – but to dogs.

“The pups often have long shifts in cramped cubicles,” says Deborah Jaskins, an attorney for the Labor Department who worked on the investigation. “And they’re paid in snacks, which most of the dogs love, but it still violates minimum wage rules.”

The company has been fined $2.7 million for numerous violations over the last two years.

Furthermore, the quality of phone and technical support provided by these canine crews is sub-par, according to a recent article in Consumer Reports. A number of mobile phone, broadband, and big box retail companies outsource their customer service to PawCo, and thousands of consumers have reported unhelpful and downright useless support when they call with issues.

“When I finally got someone on the line to process my return, all I heard was a low grumbling and the sound of a biscuit crunching,” says Tom Applebaum, a consumer who recently contacted one of PawCo’s call centers. “An automated phone tree could process my claim faster than these guys.”

via Keynaynard78