Creditor harassment at work

HGHAHR · February 2004

I have an ee who has asked me what they can do, if anything, to stop a creditor from harassing them at work. She has asked them to stop calling, but they continue to call. It is disruptive to her as well as those taking the numerous phone calls. I've not had to deal with this before, so I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done.

deniseE · February 2004

According to the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) MOST creditors are banned from calling a debtor at work once the request has been made.

However, if this is the only contact number a credit has, it will continue to be used.

Does your employee have a direct dial number or do the calls come through a general office line?

I would advise your employee to provide an alternate number to the creditor, put their request that the calls to the work number cease and add that the Attorney General will be notified of any additional violation. I would follow this up with a written letter to the creditor.

If your ee has the resources he/she may wish to contact an attorney that specializes in collection issues. Depending on the amount of debt, it may be worth the time.

You as the employer also have the right to forbid such calls in the workplace. Certainly, you cannot discipline your ee for the call (creditor can get numbers from many other places besides the ee's application)...but it's effective to tell the creditor that so and so may not receive calls to the workplace and that YOU will call the AG office if the calls continue.

HGHAHR · February 2004

Thanks!

stilldazed · February 2004

We have done that for a couple of employees in our organization, and it worked after I made the request in writing and included our company's policy that the employees could not receive personal phone calls at work, except for emergencies. The policy may seem a little stern, but one was a receptionist position in a very public location, and the other was a hands-on patient-care position.

JM in ATL · February 2004

Denise pretty much summed up all of the courses of action you should take. However, 3rd party collectors have to comply with the OFDCP, not first party collectors.

I had to do the same for an employee as well. I wrote a letter to the "calling company" that it was against our company policy to have ee's receive personal phone calls AND that we provide a harassment free workplace, which they were violating. The calls stopped immediately.

Rockie · February 2004

Most employers prohibit creditors calling employees at work. I would advise employee to take care of this situation - either deal with the delinquency or advise the creditor that they are not allowed to take calls at work. If they persist, you can go through legal channels to prevent them from calling, but most of them know that if you push the issue.

rhr27 · February 2004

In a former life, I was a bankruptcy paralegal and we had our clients contact the collection agency in writing to stop contacting them at work. We always suggested that they use a return-receipt so they could prove, if need be, that the creditor had received the request.

Nat · February 2004

According to an employee we have in HR who use to work for a credit bureau, creditors are not allowed to call the employee at work if the employee tells them not to even if there is no alternative number. If the employee tells them to stop and they don't, the employee may be able to take legal action against the creditor.

Jewlolson22 · February 2004

I also have this problem with my ee's so I have set a strict set of rules down that if any bill collector needs to contact my ee's they must do so in writing by fax or mail. We don't accept telephone calls. It works very well for me.

HR inWA · April 2004

Does anyone know if this rule applies to a State Tax Board as well? They are calling me over & over again asking when my employee is going to call them to settle a past-due tax. I have told them that I've passed along the phone message & that we generally ask collectors not to call our employees at work but the rep is very abrasive - asking to speak to my supervisor (the President of the company) etc. She keeps saying "this is about taxes".
Are they immune to the "no phone calls" rule?

Cinderella · April 2004

Ask her for the name and phone number of HER supervisor. x}>

I googled and came up with this site: [url]http://dor.wa.gov/content/contactus/con_taxadv.aspx[/url]

They might be able to help.

Creditor harassment at work

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