Maximus employs one of the largest federally-contracted workforces in the country under a contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These workers operate call centers that handle Medicare and ACA Federally Facilitated Marketplace calls. Approximately 10,000 Maximus agents perform this work at 11 call centers in nine states.
Despite the essential health services Maximus call center workers provide to Americans on behalf of the federal government, some are paid as little as $10.80 an hour. The majority of federal call center workers at Maximus are women and people of color who live in communities that have been historically marginalized, so the current low wages at the Maximus call centers contribute to gender and racial income disparities.
“President Biden is already delivering on his promises to lift up and empower workers,” said Cassie Ludwig, who works at Maximus’ call center in London, KY. “But the thousands of us at Maximus who help Americans get access to healthcare, during a pandemic no less, shouldn’t have to wait another minute to get the better pay that we deserve. Maximus should follow Biden’s lead and implement $15 pay immediately to address years of injustice and harm, and should respect our right to form a union.”
“Biden’s Executive Order is a major victory for working families,” said Jamie Brown, a worker at Maximus’ call center in Hattiesburg, MS who is a single father and also takes care of his mother. “But our families and our communities are struggling today, which is why we’re calling on Maximus and CMS to ensure this new minimum wage goes into effect immediately for us.”
Maximus workers at the CMS call centers are organizing with the Communications Workers of America to win better working conditions and a voice on the job.