Obamacare phone operator who talked to Sean Hannity loses her job

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

An Obamacare phone operator who had a conversation with Fox News host Sean Hannity lost her job on Thursday.

On Monday, the “Hannity” host called up the Affordable Care Act phone number provided by the federal government. Eventually, he was connected with Erling Davis, a phone operator working for a private contract company .

Hannity quizzed Davis about technical issues facing the government healthcare website and engaged in some small talk during their 10-minute conversation.

However, on Thursday Davis revealed that she was fired by her employer over the conversation. For his part, Hannity told listeners of his radio show that he will compensate Davis for a year’s salary tax free and try to help her find a new job. In total, Hannity reportedly gave Davis $26,000. He also posted information on his website where viewers could reach out with job offers and other assistance.

“They fired me from my job,” Davis told Hannity while being interviewed on his radio program.

A transcribed exchange between Davis and Hannity reads as follows:

Davis: “So, the next day I came back and they had, like, two people escort me upstairs to HR. And then it was three head people and me, we sat down, and so I’m like, ‘Why am I up here?’ I figured, OK, they want to talk about the phone call incident.”

Hannity: “I’m very sorry that you had to go through that. I don’t want you to have to pay a price just for taking our call. So I want to help you out here.”

Davis: “I remember her saying, ‘We can’t have this type of stuff going on here, so we have to release you.' They said that no contact with the media. No type of media whatsoever. We’re not allowed to do that at that company.”

Hannity: “It’s not your fault I called."

The comments that got Davis fired were arguably entirely benign. During the Monday phone conversation, she told the conservative commentator:

“Thanks for your interest in the health insurance marketplace. We are having a lot of visitors trying to use our website right now. This is causing some glitches for some people trying to create an account or log in. Keep trying and thanks for your patience. You might have better success during off-peak hours like later at night or early in the morning. We’ll continue working to improve the site so you can get covered.”