Location: OH
Hi there. Maybe someone can help me in my dilemma.
I work for a major retail company with locations throughout the US. Recently I’ve been having issues with some of their business practices and the more I think about it, the more I’m unsure if what they’re asking us to do is illegal or if it’s simply unethical.
The past year or so management will intermittently “voluntell” employees in certain departments, one of which is mine, to solicit leads at the front of the store by offering some dollar amount off a customer’s purchase if the customer fills out a paper about services they might be interested in. While this paper does ask for contact info, there is no information on it about consent to be contacted by our company or its subsidiaries. There is no space for a signature. We also have no paper filing system, so we have nothing to do with these papers later on. They end up going in the trash.
After we collect enough customer info, we are instructed to input it into an electronic lead system that REQUIRES A CUSTOMER SIGNATURE for consent to be contacted. Thus, we are essentially being told to forge signatures for every single service request.
Am I correct in being suspicious here? I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but frankly it’s an obnoxious practice from the perspective of a consumer, and questionable on the business side of things for a handful of reasons.
Comments
Good luck with whatever you do.
If I were you I’d start refusing to do this practice. Forging a signature is against Ohio and federal law.
As an employee following these instructions, you could be held liable if caught, though the company likely bears primary responsibility for directing the practice. Ohio’s one-party consent law allows you to record conversations with management to document these orders, which could protect you if challenged.
You could report the practice to HR but you might be risking your job.
You could report it to the AG or FTC. Ohio’s whistleblower protections (Ohio Rev. Code § 4113.52) apply if you report in good faith, but they require following internal procedures first.