Company Providing Call Center Services For Obamacare, Medicaid Lays Off Riverview Workers

RIVERVIEW, FL — For the second time in the past two weeks, workers are picketing outside the Maximus Inc. call center in Riverview Monday to protest mass layoffs and advocate for better pay and work conditions.

Based in Tysons, Virginia, Maximus Inc. employs one of the largest federally contracted work forces in the country. The company employs 34,300 workers across the country and had a reported annual revenue of $3.46 billion in fiscal year 2020, according to its website.

Its call centers contract with Medicare and Medicaid services and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), handling millions of calls regarding federal health care coverage. In 2023, Maximus call center workers helped lead a record-breaking open enrollment period in which 16 million Americans enrolled in ACA coverage plans.

According to Maximus, last year the company was awarded a contract with a total value of $6.6 billion by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for Contact Center Operations to help 75 million Americans seeking vital information about their Medicare benefits, as well as navigating insurance programs available through the Federal Marketplace established by the ACA.

Nevertheless, on May 12, the company laid off 700 workers in Florida, Louisiana, Virginia and Mississippi. This came after the company laid off 243 workers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Bogalusa, Louisiana, in January.

Maximus told workers the layoffs were, in part, based on unplanned absences.

Tiandra Robinson, an organizer at Communications Workers of America, said Maximus' decision disproportionately affects workers with disabilities, chronic illnesses and caregiving responsibilities.

In addition to the protest taking place at the call center at 020 U.S. 301 in Legacy Park in Riverview, protests are also being held in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Chester, Virginia; and Bogalusa, Louisiana, where more workers received pink slips.

Workers also picketed outside the Riverview call center on May 23 following the original announcement about layoffs.

Robinson said Maximus workers already live on the edge of poverty due to low wages and inadequate benefits. Workers said being laid off will throw them and their families into financial ruin, threatening their ability to provide housing, food and health care for their families.

The Maximus workers at the call center have been organizing with the CWA to win better working conditions and a voice on the job, Robinson said.

“This is exactly why we are working with Maximus workers to organize a union,” Robinson said. “These hardworking call center employees, including many who have worked for Maximus for years, deserve protection from arbitrary layoffs like these, the second round of layoffs at the company this year alone."

While last year five Maximus executives received more than $12 million in total compensation, employees at the call centers struggle to afford necessities, the union said.

“Maximus is a billion dollar federal contractor who is now failing to provide enough notice to workers about their termination or sufficient severance pay for them to continue to care for their families," Robinson said. "Surely, Maximus can do better than this. Shame on the company for pulling the rug out from under hundreds of people who are already struggling due to poverty wages, punitive attendance policies and poor health care benefits.”

The Communications Workers of America union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Maximus relating to the company’s operation of call centers on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services.

In the complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the union has brought five allegations against the company, including violations of the National Labor Relations Act by making implied promises of benefits to employees to interfere with union activity and discharging employees in retaliation for union organizing.

"We're here giving tools to help families calling who are in need," said Riverview call center employee Selia Mills-Grady. "What about us? We need those tools as well."

However, she said it's been difficult to organize workers.

"When it comes time to do it and they see that management is watching, they say, 'I can't afford to lose my job. I have to care for my children.'" Grady said.

Call Center Workers United, which represents 700,000 call center workers nationwide, said workers who still have jobs at Maximum are demanding protection against layoffs, $25 an hour pay and opportunities for career advancement.

Riverview call center employee Steven McLeary said he makes about $17 an hour, or $$35,360 per year at Maximus.

"People at Medicaid, even Social Security, they get paid $25 an hour and up," he said. "We're doing the same work, and we're being paid less. We're getting these six-minute bathroom breaks. It's absolutely ridiculous. You can't get to the bathroom that fast."

Call Center Workers United called the timing of the Maximus layoffs "bizarre." Typically, the company holds a major recruitment drive in July.

Call Center Workers United has launched a petition drive pleading with Secretary of Health & Human Services Xavier Becerra to stand with the workers against Maximus.

In a statement, Maximus said it "welcomes the opportunity to work directly with our employees and discuss and hopefully resolve their concerns. Over the past several years, Maximus has improved pay and compensation, reduced employees' out-of-pocket health care expenses and improved work processes and safety."

In response to complaints about the length of bathroom breaks, the company stated, “Maximus provides reasonable and flexible break policies. Employees can request bathroom breaks at any time and employees who work eight hours can take two 15-minute rest breaks in addition to their half hour lunch break.”

Riverview Maximus call center workers and their children protest at the facility off U.S. 301.