In order to ensure Americans understand how to access the benefits available to them when many provisions of the Affordable Care Act go online October 1, the Obama administration announced last month that it is setting up a call center that will be accessible to Americans 24 hours a day. One branch of that call center will be located in California's Contra Costa County, where, reportedly, 7,000 people applied for the 204 jobs. According to the Contra Costa Times, however, "about half the jobs are part-time, with no health benefits -- a stinging disappointment to workers and local politicians who believed the positions would be full-time." The county supervisor, Karen Mitchoff, called the hiring process "a comedy of errors" and said she "never dreamed [the jobs] would be part-time."
The Times indicates that a job posting advertised all of the jobs as full-time, and one call center employee, who said no reason for the apparent change was provided, told the paper, "It reminded me of that George Clooney movie where he goes around the country firing people [Up in the Air]. The woman said, 'I know you were led to believe you would be full-time, but things have changed. . . . You are actually 'part-time intermittent.'"
The Contra Costa employees are currently in training, and the call center -- one of three based in California -- is set to go live on October 1.