Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension Without Change of an Existing Collection; Comments Request
| Published date | 26 May 2021 |
| Record Number | 2021-11072 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 100 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28340-28342]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11072]
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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension Without
Change of an Existing Collection; Comments Request
AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) announces
that it intends to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
a request for a three-year extension without change of the existing
recordkeeping requirements under its regulations. The Commission is
seeking public comments on the proposed extension.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before
July 26, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods--
please use only one method:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
[[Page 28341]]
instructions on the website for submitting comments.
Mail: Comments may be submitted by mail to Rachel See, Acting
Executive Officer, Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, 131 M Street NE, Washington, DC 20507.
Fax: Comments totaling six or fewer pages may be sent by fax
machine to (202) 663-4114. (This is not a toll-free number).) Receipt
of fax transmittals will not be acknowledged, except that the sender
may request confirmation of receipt by calling the Executive
Secretariat staff at (202) 663-4070 (voice), (800) 669-6820 (TTY), or
(844) 234-5122 (ASL Video Phone).
Instructions: All comments received will be posted without change
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you
provide. However, the EEOC reserves the right to refrain from posting
inappropriate comments, including those that contain obscene, indecent,
or profane language; that contain threats or defamatory statements;
that contain hate speech directed at race, color, sex, national origin,
age, religion, disability, or genetic information; or that promote or
endorse services or products.
Although copies of comments received are usually also available for
review at the Commission's library, given the EEOC's current 100%
telework status due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public
health emergency, the Commission's library is closed until further
notice. Once the Commission's library is re-opened, copies of comments
received in response to this notice will be made available for viewing
by appointment only at 131 M Street NE, Suite 4NW08R, Washington, DC
20507, between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathleen Oram, Assistant Legal
Counsel, at (202) 921-2665 or [email protected], or Erin Norris,
Senior Attorney, at (980) 296-1286 or [email protected]. Requests
for this notice in an alternative format should be made to the Office
of Communications and Legislative Affairs at (202) 663-4191 (voice),
(800) 669-6820 (TTY), or (844) 234-5122 (ASL Video Phone).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII),
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Title II of
the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which
collectively prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color,
religion, national origin, disability, or genetic information. Section
709(c) of Title VII, section 107(a) of the ADA, and section 207(a) of
GINA authorize the EEOC to issue recordkeeping and reporting
regulations that are deemed reasonable, necessary or appropriate. The
EEOC has promulgated recordkeeping regulations under those authorities
that are contained in 29 CFR part 1602. These regulations do not
require the creation of any particular records but generally require
employers and labor organizations to preserve any personnel and
employment records they make or keep for a period of one year or two
years, and possibly longer if a charge of discrimination is filed.
Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and OMB regulation
5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), the Commission solicits public comment to enable it
to:
(1) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for
the proper performance of the Commission's functions, including whether
the information will have practical utility;
(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the
burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including the use of appropriate, or other
technological collection techniques or other forms of information
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.
The EEOC seeks an extension without change of OMB's clearance under
the PRA of the recordkeeping requirements in 29 CFR part 1602.
Overview of Current Information Collection
Collection Title: Recordkeeping Under Title VII, the ADA, and GINA.
OMB Number: 3046-0040.
Description of Affected Public: Employers and labor organizations
subject to Title VII.
Number of Respondents: 989,379.
Number of Reports Submitted: 0.
Estimated Burden Hours: 162,223.
Cost to Respondents: $0.
Federal Cost: None.
Number of Forms: None.
Abstract: Section 709(c) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(c), section 107(a) of the ADA, 42
U.S.C. 12117(a), and section 207(a) of GINA, 42 U.S.C. 2000ff-6(a),
direct the Commission to establish regulations pursuant to which
entities subject to those Acts shall make and preserve certain records
to assist the EEOC in ensuring compliance with the Acts' prohibitions
on employment discrimination. Accordingly, the EEOC issued regulations
setting out recordkeeping requirements for private employers (29 CFR
1602.14); employers, labor organizations, and joint labor-management
committees that control apprenticeship programs (29 CFR 1602.21(b));
labor organizations (29 CFR 1602.28(a)); state and local governments
(29 CFR 1602.31); elementary and secondary school systems or districts
(29 CFR 1602.40); and institutions of higher education (29 CFR
1602.49(a)). Any of the records maintained which are subsequently
disclosed to the EEOC during an investigation are protected from public
disclosure by the confidentiality provisions of section 706(b) and
709(e) of Title VII, which are also incorporated by reference into the
ADA at section 107(a) and GINA at section 207(a).
Burden Statement: The estimated number of respondents subject to
this recordkeeping requirement is 989,379 entities, which combines
estimates from private employment,\1\ the public sector,\2\ colleges
and universities,\3\ apprenticeship programs,\4\ and referral
unions.\5\ An entity subject to the recordkeeping requirement in 29 CFR
part 1602 must retain all personnel or employment records, records
relating to apprenticeship, or union membership or referral records
made or kept by that entity for one year (private employers and
referral unions) or two years (public sector, colleges and
universities,
[[Page 28342]]
apprenticeship programs), and must retain any records relevant to
charges of discrimination filed under Title VII, the ADA, or GINA until
final disposition of those matters, which may be longer than one or two
years. This recordkeeping requirement does not require reports or the
creation of new documents, but merely requires retention of documents
that an entity has already made or kept in the normal course of its
business operations. Thus, existing employers and labor organizations
bear no burden under this analysis, because their systems for retaining
these types of records are already in place. Newly formed entities may
incur a small burden when setting up their data collection and
retention systems to ensure compliance with EEOC's recordkeeping
requirements. We assume some effort and time must be expended by new
employers or labor organizations to familiarize themselves with Title
VII, ADA, and GINA recordkeeping requirements and explain those
requirements to the appropriate staff. We estimate that 30 minutes
would be needed for this one-time familiarization process. Using
projected business formation estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau for
2020 and the number of new apprenticeship programs established in 2020
provided by the Department of Labor, we estimate that there are 324,446
entities that would incur this start-up burden.\6\ Assuming a 30-minute
burden per entity, the total annual hour burden is 162,223 hours (.5
hour x 324,446 new entities = 162,223 hours).
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\1\ Source of original data: 2017 Economic Census. (https://www.census.gov/content/census/en/data/datasets/2017/econ/susb/2017-susb.html). Local Downloadable CSV data. Select U.S. & states, 6
digit NAICS. The original number of employers was adjusted to only
include those with 15 or more employees.
\2\ Source of original data: 2017 Census of Governments:
Employment. Individual Government Data File (https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/econ/apes/annual-apes.html), Local Downloadable
Data zip file ``Individual Unit Files''. The original number of
government entities was adjusted to only include those with 15 or
more employees.
\3\ Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics, IPEDS, Fall 2017. Postsecondary Institutions
and Cost of Attendance in 2017-18; Degrees and Other Awards
Conferred: 2016-17; and 12-Month Enrollment: 2016-17: First Look
(Provisional Data), See Table 1, ``Number and percentage
distribution of Title IV institutions, by control of institution,
level of institution, and region: United States and other U.S.
jurisdictions, academic year 2017-2018'' (https://nces.ed.gov/pubSearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2018060REV).
\4\ Source: U.S. Department of Labor. Registered Apprenticeship
National Results Fiscal Year 2020. Number of active apprenticeship
programs in 2020 (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/apprenticeship/about/statistics/2020).
\5\ EEO-3 Reports filed by referral unions in 2018 with EEOC.
\6\ Sources: Business Formation Statistics from the U.S. Census
Bureau (https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/index.html). Total projected
business formation statistics (series BF_PBF4Q) for 2020, across all
industries, for the US, not seasonally adjusted.; Department of
Labor, New Apprenticeship programs for 2020 (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/apprenticeship/about/statistics/2020).
For the Commission
Dated: May 20, 2021.
Charlotte A. Burrows,
Chair.
[FR Doc. 2021-11072 Filed 5-25-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6570-01-P
