The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Fourteen state workers in a call center in Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's office have been laid off because their jobs are being outsourced to a private phone operator.

Carlo LoParo, a Blackwell spokesman, said the hiring of RDI Marketing Services of Cincinnati will save the state more than $250,000 the first year and will speed up services for business callers.

The call center answers questions about incorporating businesses, business filings, corporate liens and certificates of good standings needed for loans.

The workers who were let go have been placed on a call-back list for one year. If a position opens in the office for which a laid-off worker is qualified, the worker would be given preference for hiring, LoParo said.

LoParo said callers have had to wait up to 20 minutes to get answers to their business-service questions. He said RDI guarantees a wait of no more than two minutes at peak hours or it must add staff at its own cost.

LoParo also said the call center experienced absentee rates of 35 to 50 percent on any given day.

A spokesman for the Communications Workers of America Local 4501 said the absentee rate was 14 percent before layoffs became a possibility.