A debt collector generally may not contact you at work if it knows or has reason to know your employer prohibits those calls. Once you tell the collector your employer does not allow them, further calls to your job may violate federal law, depending on the facts.
A call may come to the front desk, a coworker may pass along a message from a company they do not recognize, or a call may come in on a work line where a supervisor might overhear.
This page explains the federal rule on workplace contact, how a consumer can put a collector on notice, the related limits on time, place and third parties, what the law makes potentially available when the rules are broken, and how the agency complaint process works.
What the FDCPA Says About Calls to Your Workplace
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is the main federal law on debt collection, and it limits what a debt collector may do. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6), a debt collector is a person who uses the mails or interstate commerce "in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another."
The workplace rule sits in 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(3). Without the consumer's prior consent given directly to the collector, or a court's express permission, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt "at the consumer's place of employment if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication."
Two triggers matter. The collector may actually know of the employer's policy, or it may have reason to know. Either one is enough.
The rule covers more than phone calls. The FDCPA defines "communication" as conveying information about a debt "directly or indirectly to any person through any medium." Regulation F, at 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(b)(3), also reaches a collector that attempts to communicate at the workplace under the same conditions.
The scope has limits too. The CFPB explains that the FDCPA "doesn't generally cover collection by the original creditor or business you owed money to." Whether a given caller is covered depends on who it is and how it collects.
How a Consumer Can Tell a Debt Collector to Stop Calling at Work
Because the rule turns on what the collector knows or has reason to know, telling the collector is usually what gives it that knowledge. A consumer may say so on a call, or put it in writing, stating that the employer does not allow personal calls at work. The CFPB's page on when and how often a debt collector can call notes that the law requires collectors to follow a consumer's instructions about when and where the consumer does not want to be contacted.
A written notice creates a record of when the collector was told. Where the notice is given by phone, a consumer may write down the date, the time and what was said. The CFPB describes keeping documents from a collector and notes of conversations as useful records.
A broader option exists. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(c), if a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt or wants the collector to cease further communication, the collector may not communicate further about that debt. The exceptions are to say its efforts are ending, to say the collector or creditor may invoke specified remedies it ordinarily uses, or, where applicable, to say it intends to invoke a specified remedy. If the notice is mailed, it takes effect on receipt.
The two requests differ. A workplace notice closes one location; contact at home may continue. A cease-communication notice ends contact about that debt altogether, subject to those exceptions. The CFPB adds that asking a collector to stop contacting a consumer will not necessarily stop it from suing or reporting the debt to a credit reporting company.
Time and place carry their own limits under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(1). Without the consumer's prior consent or a court's permission, a collector may not communicate at any unusual time or place, or at a time or place it knows or should know is inconvenient. Absent knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, it must assume the convenient time is after 8 a.m. and before 9 p.m., local time at the consumer's location.
Coworkers and employers are protected by 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b). Except as § 1692b allows, and without the consumer's prior consent, a court's permission, or a need tied to a postjudgment remedy, a collector may not communicate about the debt with anyone other than the consumer (a term that, for this section, includes the consumer's spouse, parent if the consumer is a minor, guardian, executor or administrator), the consumer's attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the creditor's attorney or the collector's attorney. A supervisor or a receptionist is not on that list.
The exception is narrow. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692b, a collector seeking a consumer's location may contact others but must not state that the consumer owes any debt, and generally may not contact the same person more than once. The CFPB says a collector may ask an employer for a consumer's address or phone number but "may not tell your employer that you owe a debt." The same limits shape debt collectors calling family members.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692d, a collector may not engage in conduct whose natural consequence is to harass, oppress or abuse any person. That includes causing a telephone to ring, or engaging any person in telephone conversation, repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse or harass anyone at the called number. Repeated calls to a work line may violate this section where that intent is present.
What the FDCPA Makes Available When Its Rules Are Violated
For someone who has already had a manager mention the calls, it helps to know what the law provides, and what it depends on. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k, a debt collector that fails to comply with any FDCPA provision with respect to a person is liable to that person for the sum of:
- any actual damage sustained as a result of the failure;
- in an individual action, additional damages as the court may allow, not exceeding $1,000; in a class action, that amount for each named plaintiff plus an amount for other class members not exceeding the lesser of $500,000 or 1 percent of the collector's net worth;
- in a successful action, the costs of the action and a reasonable attorney's fee as determined by the court.
In setting additional damages in an individual case, the court considers factors including the frequency and persistence of noncompliance, its nature, and how far it was intentional. If the court finds an action was brought in bad faith and to harass, it may award the collector fees and costs.
There is also a defense. Under § 1692k(c), a collector is not liable if it shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error despite procedures reasonably adapted to avoid it.
The deadline is set by statute: under § 1692k(d), an action may be brought in an appropriate federal district court or another court of competent jurisdiction within one year from the date on which the violation occurs. Whether any particular contact violates the FDCPA depends on its facts. More on how these cases work appears in the overview of a consumer lawsuit under federal law.
Filing a Complaint with the CFPB or FTC
An agency complaint is one route a consumer may use, and it is separate from a private civil action under § 1692k. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau states that a consumer having trouble with debt collection "can submit a complaint with the CFPB online or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372)," as its page on whether debt collectors can tell others about a debt describes. Its page on harassment by a debt collector adds that a consumer may also contact the state's attorney general.
The Federal Trade Commission's debt collection FAQs describe reporting a collector as one option, alongside suing in state or federal court within one year of when the collector broke the law. The FTC also notes that even if a court finds a collector violated the FDCPA, the consumer may still owe the debt.
The FTC adds that many states have their own debt collection laws that differ from federal law. State protections vary from state to state.
If You'd Like a Consumer Rights Case Review
Workplace calls turn on details that are easy to lose: when the collector was first told about the employer's policy, whether that notice was spoken or written, what was said to a receptionist or supervisor, and how many calls followed. This page covers federal debt collection rules only; it does not address credit reporting disputes, which have their own law, or the details of any one state's statute. More on how federal consumer statutes fit together appears in the overview of a consumer rights attorney's work.
A reader may request a consumer rights case review through Federal Consumer Rights.
