BPO workers cry foul over alleged mass layoffs

Employees of Asurion and TTEC say hundreds were dismissed on unproven charges.

Illegal mass terminations have allegedly hit two business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the country, with workers demanding government agencies investigate supposedly toxic workplace practices.

Current and former employees of TTEC (formerly TeleTech)—which primarily handles support for American telco Verizon—claim the company illegally laid off hundreds of staff across its Quezon City, Iloilo and Cebu offices.

Affected workers were reportedly dismissed on allegations of fraud and survey manipulation, but were not provided sufficient evidence. Some say they were denied access to recordings and documents needed to prove and challenge the accusations.

Dozens of employees have already brought their illegal dismissal claims to the Department of Labor and Employment, but they call on the agency to speed up the process as their livelihoods hang in the balance.

Meanwhile, a similar situation is unfolding at Asurion — an American mobile phone support service provider with BPO operations in the Philippines — as workers started a petition urging company leadership and labor agencies to probe the company.

Asurion would allegedly post misleading job descriptions, forcing technical and engineering staff to engage in sales quotas. Some were also supposedly removed from their programs without prior notice, and threatened with expulsion when raising formal complaints.

“Meanwhile, coaches and upper management who allegedly promoted or tolerated these practices have not been subjected to the same scrutiny or accountability,” Asurion workers said in their petition.

One employee anonymously emailed company chief operating officer Raghav Kandlapalli, appealing for an independent investigation into a “toxic workplace culture” at its Philippine operations.

The BPO industry is seeing rapid changes amid the adoption of artificial intelligence and shifting labor priorities in dominant economies like the United States. Amid these threats to employment, industry groups are calling on domestic labor agencies to strengthen worker protections.

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