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Protective Order

Date
2025-10-17

Summary

A redacted version of a declaration by a Managing Director of Bank of America, N.A. in support of the bank's motion for partial summary judgment in In re: Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation, Case No. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. It was filed October 17, 2025 as Document 591-3 (DX 2) and lists a hearing date of April 17, 2026 before Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel. The declarant describes overseeing call center operations for the bank's state unemployment insurance prepaid card programs, including the program managed by the California Employment Development Department, between approximately July 2020 and November 2021. The declaration describes rising call volumes from March 2020, the move of agents to work from home, and use of vendors ACT, TTEC and Sykes, with figures redacted.

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Full text

Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB   Document 591-3   Filed 10/17/25   PageID.40689
                               Page 1 of 7




                             DX 2



 REDACTED VERSION OF
 DOCUMENT SOUGHT TO
BE SEALED PURSUANT TO
      STIPULATED
  PROTECTIVE ORDER
                      Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB      Document 591-3   Filed 10/17/25   PageID.40690
                                                        Page 2 of 7


                       1   JAMES W. MCGARRY (pro hac vice)
                           JMcGarry@goodwinlaw.com
                       2   GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
                           100 Northern Avenue
                       3   Boston, MA 02210
                           Tel.: +1 617 570 1000
                       4   Fax: +1 617 523 1231
                       5   SABRINA M. ROSE-SMITH (pro hac vice)
                           SRoseSmith@goodwinlaw.com
                       6   MATTHEW L. RIFFEE (pro hac vice)
                           MRiffee@goodwinlaw.com
                       7   GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
                           1900 N Street, NW
                       8   Washington, DC 20036
                           Tel.: +1 202 346 4000
                       9   Fax: +1 202 346 4444
                      10   Attorneys for Defendant
                           BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
                      11

                      12
                                               UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                      13
                                      FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
                      14
                                                       SAN DIEGO DIVISION
                      15

                      16
                           IN RE: BANK OF AMERICA                  Case No. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB
                           CALIFORNIA UNEMPLOYMENT
                      17   BENEFITS LITIGATION                     DECLARATION OF WILLIAM
                                                                   GOLDEN IN SUPPORT OF
                      18                                           DEFENDANT BANK OF AMERICA,
                                                                   N.A.’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL
                      19                                           SUMMARY JUDGMENT
                      20
                                                                   Date: April 17, 2026
                      21                                           Time: 1:30 p.m.
                                                                   Ctrm: 2D – 2nd Floor
                      22                                           Judge: Hon. Gonzalo P. Curiel
                      23
                                                                   FILED PROVISIONALLY UNDER SEAL
                      24                                           PURSUANT TO STIPULATED PROTECTIVE
                                                                   ORDER
                      25

                      26

                      27

                      28
GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
   ATTORNEYS AT LAW

                           GOLDEN DECL. ISO MOT. FOR PARTIAL SJ.            CASE NO. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB
                      Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB          Document 591-3      Filed 10/17/25    PageID.40691
                                                    HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
                                                         Page 3 of 7    – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY


                       1       I, William Golden, hereby declare as follows:
                       2         1.     I am employed by Defendant Bank of America, N.A. (BANA) as a
                       3 Managing Director. I make this declaration based upon personal knowledge and

                       4 belief, upon BANA’s records maintained in the ordinary course and scope of business,

                       5 and upon information gathered from other BANA employees within the scope of their

                       6 responsibilities. If called to testify as to any of the matters set forth in this declaration,

                       7 I could and would competently testify thereto.

                       8         2.     Between approximately July 2020 and November 2021, my
                       9 responsibilities included oversight of call center operations for BANA’s state

                      10 unemployment insurance (UI) benefit prepaid card programs, including the call center

                      11 operations serving the UI benefits program managed by California Employment

                      12 Development Department (EDD).

                      13         3.     While overseeing call center operations, I regularly reviewed and am
                      14 familiar with data metrics detailing performance of the various call centers supporting

                      15 the UI program. These metrics included

                      16

                      17                                                                This data was collected both
                      18 internally and by vendors hired by BANA to support the call centers, including TTEC

                      19 ACT, and Sykes. See infra 2, 5.

                      20         4.     While overseeing call center operations, I also regularly reviewed reports
                      21 showing the

                      22

                      23                             BANA’s UI Prepaid Call Centers
                      24         5.     During the period when I was responsible for overseeing the call center
                      25 operations for BANA’s state UI benefit prepaid card programs,

                      26




GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
                      27

                      28   -          My understanding is that this was based on the respective responsibilities
                           of EDD and BANA as set forth in the Bank’s agreement with EDD.

                                                                        1
   ATTORNEYS AT LAW
                            GOLDEN DECL. ISO MOT. FOR PARTIAL SJ.                  CASE NO. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB
                     Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB            Document 591-3       Filed 10/17/25   PageID.40692
                                                     HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL-
                                                          Page 4 of 7     ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY


                      1

                      2

                      3

                      4

                      5

                      6

                      7

                      8           7.     In March 2020, in the BANA UI prepaid Fraud and Claims Call Centers
                      9   and the Main Call Center for California, approximately ■ Full Time Equivalents
                     10   (FTE) received approximately-                 calls, with average wait times o~         .1
                     11   By May 2020, call volumes had increased to -                   across all BANA UI prepaid
                     12   call centers, and eventually peaked at over                   calls in September 2020. See
                     13   DX 173 ; DX 174; DX 25; DX 24. Over the period of one year, spanning March 1,
                     14   2020 through February 28, 2021, BANA call center vendor TTEC, see infra 5, alone
                     15   received over                    .DX25 .
                     16            8.    To meet the unprecedented spike in call volumes, the Bank engaged
                     17   additional call center resources through existing Bank vendors (ACT, TTEC, and
                     18   Sykes). The vendors the Bank engaged were well-known to and vetted by the Bank,
                     19   and had reliably provided similar resources for many years.
                     20

                     21
                          1
                     22    FTE refers to the number of 40 hours worked in 1 week. For example, 4 customer
                          service representatives (CSRs) each working 10 hours in the same week would
                     23   account for 1 single FTE. Available to work is defined as lo ed into the hone takin
                     24

                     25

                     26

                     27

                     28

GooDWIN PROCTER LLP
   ATIORNTN'SATLAW
                                                                           2
                              GOLDEN D ECL. ISO MOT. FOR P ARTIAL SJ.                CASE No. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB
                      Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB            Document 591-3     Filed 10/17/25   PageID.40693
                                                      HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
                                                           Page 5 of 7    – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY


                       1           9.      Beginning in March 2020, due to health and safety concerns caused by
                       2 the pandemic, call center agents transitioned to a work-from-home environment. This

                       3 created new technology, training, and data security challenges, as it

                       4

                       5
                                                                                                           -
                       6           10.     Around the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic and related shelter-in-
                       7 place orders across the United States caused many state and local governments to shut

                       8 down. This often made it impossible to

                       9
                           -            . In order to keep up with hiring demands and fully staff BANA’s call centers
                      10 so as to better assist consumers,

                      11

                      12

                      13

                      14

                      15           11.     As soon as government services resumed,
                      16

                      17

                      18

                      19

                      20

                      21

                      22

                      23           12.     As a result of BANA’s efforts, BANA was able to grow its UI prepaid
                      24

                      25

                      26
                           call center staffing from ■ FTE2 in March 2020 to over
                           2020. See DX 173; DX 174; DX 25; DX 24.                         -     FTE by December




                      27
                           2
                            Note, this total reflects the average FTE working in the Fraud and Claims Call
                      28   Centers as well as the Main Call Center for California in March 2020.
GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
   ATTORNEYS AT LAW
                                                                         3
                               GOLDEN DECL. ISO MOT. FOR PARTIAL SJ.                CASE NO. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB
                      Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB       Document 591-3      Filed 10/17/25    PageID.40694
                                                  HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
                                                       Page 6 of 7    – ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY


                       1         13.   In addition to securing the necessary staffing and resources required to
                       2 normalize call volumes quickly,

                       3

                       4

                       5

                       6

                       7

                       8                          Claims Call Center Staffing Metrics
                       9         14.   In March 2020, the Claims Call Center employed approximately      I FTEs
                      10 and was able to respond to calls within an average of approximately                     .
                      11 Between March and October 2020, the Claims Call Center experienced a

                      12
                           --      in daily call volume, from an average of                             -
                                                                                             calls per week, to as
                      13 many as          per week in May 2020, and peaked at more than
                      14 October 2020 (which was a more than

                      15 See DX 173.
                                                                                             -        per week in
                                                                                   from pre-pandemic demand).


                      16         15.   In response, in late summer and early fall of 2020, BANA expanded call
                      17   center capacity with a focus on
                      18

                      19           . By December 2020,
                      20                                     DX 173.
                      21         16.   During the Customer Service Class (Claims Class) period (September
                      22 13, 2020 through November 21, 2020) BANA

                      23

                      24

                      25

                      26                                                                    were produced in this
                      27 litigation, true and accurate copies of which are attached to the Brys Decl. as DX 45;

                      28 DX 48; DX 49.

GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
   ATTORNEYS AT LAW
                                                                       4
                            GOLDEN DECL. ISO MOT. FOR PARTIAL SJ.              CASE NO. 21-MD-02992-GPC-MSB
               Case 3:21-md-02992-GPC-MSB                  Document 591-3      Filed 10/17/25    PageID.40695
                                                             Page 7 of 7
                                                      HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY


                                    17.    BANA call center vendors were

                        I
                        I                           true and correct copies of which are attached to the Brys Deel.
                         4   as DX 44 and DX 47.
                         5           18.   Whenever I

                        I
                        I
                        I
                        I
                        I
                        I
                        12
                        13

                        I
                        I
                        I
                        17          20.    Although some callers experienced extended wait times during spikes in
                        18   call vo lumes, those spikes were not avoidable under these circumstances given the
                        19   impact of the global pandemic.
                        20

                        21

                        22 -          . DX173.
                        23

                        24           I declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
                        25     Executed on this 15 th day of October, 2025.
                        26

                        27

                        28
                                                                         ~                        ----
                                                                                      W ILLIAM GOLDEN
CooDW IN PROCUR LLP
   ATTllRNl-"1'-ATlAW
                                GOLDEN D ECL. ISO MOT. FOR PARTIAL SJ.   5        C ASE No. 2 I-MD-02992-GPC-M SB


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