Equal Employment Opportunity Audit and Enforcement Team Deployment

Published date15 March 2019
Citation84 FR 9463
Record Number2019-04563
SectionRules and Regulations
CourtFederal Communications Commission
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 51 (Friday, March 15, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 51 (Friday, March 15, 2019)]
                [Rules and Regulations]
                [Pages 9463-9465]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2019-04563]
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                FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                47 CFR Part 0
                [FCC 18-103]
                Equal Employment Opportunity Audit and Enforcement Team
                Deployment
                AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
                ACTION: Final rule.
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                SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC
                or Commission) moves the audit and enforcement responsibilities
                associated with our equal employment opportunity (EEO) rules from the
                Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau. As set forth below, we conclude
                that transferring enforcement of these rules to the Enforcement Bureau
                will better ensure that the communications companies subject to these
                rules give all qualified individuals an opportunity to apply and be
                considered as job candidates.
                DATES: Effective March 15, 2019.
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information, contact
                Holly Saurer, [email protected], of the Media Bureau, (202) 418-
                7200. Direct press inquiries to Janice Wise at (202) 418-8165.
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order
                (Order), FCC 18-103, adopted and released on July 24, 2018. The full
                text of this document is available electronically via the FCC's
                Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS) website at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/ or via the FCC's Electronic Comment
                Filing System (ECFS) website at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/.
                (Documents will be available electronically in ASCII, Microsoft Word,
                and/or Adobe Acrobat.) This document is also available for public
                inspection and copying during regular business hours in the FCC
                Reference Information Center, which is located in Room CY-A257 at FCC
                Headquarters, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554. The Reference
                Information Center is open to the public Monday through Thursday from
                8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The
                complete text may be purchased from the Commission's copy contractor,
                445 12th Street SW, Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554. Alternative
                formats are available for people with disabilities (Braille, large
                print, electronic files, audio format), by sending an email to
                [email protected] or calling the Commission's Consumer and Governmental
                Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY).
                Synopsis
                 1. In this Order, we conclude that it will serve the public
                interest and improve the Commission's operations to move the audit and
                enforcement responsibilities associated with our EEO rules from the
                Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau. We take this action in
                recognition of the important role our EEO rules play in encouraging a
                diverse and multi-talented workforce and at the request of MMTC and
                other civil rights organizations. By transferring enforcement of these
                rules to the Enforcement Bureau, we find that we can better ensure that
                the communications companies subject to these rules give all qualified
                individuals an opportunity to apply and be considered as job
                candidates. We therefore conclude that this organizational change is
                warranted and amend the Commission's rules accordingly.
                 2. Fifty years ago this month, the Commission observed that equal
                opportunity in employment was essential to the public interest and
                committed to ensuring that the national policy against discrimination
                in hiring applied to broadcast licensees.\1\ This remains true today.
                Currently, a team comprised of attorneys and other professionals
                responsible for EEO audits and enforcement is part of the Commission's
                Media Bureau.\2\ The EEO audit and enforcement team does essential work
                overseeing the EEO compliance of television and radio broadcast
                licensees, as well as multichannel video programming distributors
                (MVPDs), such as cable and DBS operators, and satellite radio. The
                team's work is primarily focused on periodic random audits of broadcast
                licensee and MVPD EEO programs, along with any necessary enforcement
                actions arising from those audits.\3\ In
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                addition, the team reviews EEO filings that broadcasters must submit to
                the Commission at the same time as their license renewal
                applications,\4\ and for some broadcast licensees, the team assesses
                EEO compliance around the midpoint of their eight-year license
                terms.\5\ The EEO team also investigates complaints and takes
                enforcement action based on those investigations when necessary.
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                 \1\ Petition for Rulemaking to Require Broadcast Licensees to
                Show Nondiscrimination in Their Employment Practices, Memorandum
                Opinion and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Docket No.
                18244, 33 FR 12854 (Sept. 11, 1968), 13 FCC 2d 766 (1968).
                 \2\ 47 CFR 0.61(d).
                 \3\ Each year, the EEO team conducts a random audit of the EEO
                compliance of five percent of radio station employment units, as
                well as five percent of television station employment units. 47 CFR
                73.2080(f)(4). The team also conducts random audits of the EEO
                compliance of MVPD employment units. 47 CFR 73.77(d). In addition,
                the team is responsible for ensuring that every MVPD employment unit
                is reviewed for compliance through a supplemental investigation at
                least once every five years (meaning that approximately 20 percent
                are investigated each year). 47 CFR 76.77(c).
                 \4\ Each broadcast licensee must file an FCC Form 396 (Broadcast
                Equal Opportunity Program Report) in conjunction with its license
                renewal application. 47 CFR 73.2080(f)(1); FCC Form 396, available
                at https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form396/396.pdf (last visited
                May 22, 2018).
                 \5\ The EEO team reviews the EEO practices of all broadcast
                television stations in station employment units with five or more
                full-time employees, and all radio stations in employment units with
                eleven or more full-time employees, around the midpoint of
                broadcasters' license terms. 47 CFR 73.2080(f)(2). The Commission is
                currently considering elimination of FCC Form 397, which is used as
                part of the mid-term review process. FCC Form 397, available at
                https://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form397/397.pdf (last visited May
                22, 2018); see Elimination of Obligation to File Broadcast Mid-Term
                Report (Form 397) Under Section 73.2080(f)(2), Notice of Proposed
                Rulemaking, 83 FR 12313 (March 21, 2018), MB Docket No. 18-23
                (2017). As discussed in that NPRM, even if Form 397 is eliminated,
                the mid-term review will still be conducted, as required by statute,
                and will be done by the EEO team. Id. at para. 7 (citing 47 U.S.C.
                334(b)).
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                 3. In the 2014 Quadrennial Review proceeding, the Multicultural
                Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), along with a large group of
                fellow self-identified ``Diversity and Competition Supporters,'' made
                an unopposed proposal to create a Civil Rights Branch of the
                Enforcement Bureau that would contain EEO enforcement.\6\ In the
                Quadrennial Second Report and Order, the Commission found that while
                there was no ``need to denominate a separate branch,'' moving EEO
                enforcement into the Enforcement Bureau ``warrant[ed] further
                consideration.'' \7\ It therefore directed ``the Media Bureau,
                Enforcement Bureau, and Office of the Managing Director, to discuss the
                feasibility, implications, and logistics of shifting the enforcement of
                the Media Bureau Equal Employment Opportunity rules from the Media
                Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau.'' \8\ Those internal discussion have
                now been completed. Recently, MMTC and a large group of self-identified
                ``EEO Supporters'' filed comments in the Modernization of Media
                Regulation proceeding similarly proposing that, in order to ``modernize
                [our] EEO enforcement program,'' the Commission should ``[l]ocate the
                EEO staff in the Enforcement Bureau.'' \9\
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                 \6\ See Diversity and Competition Supporters Supplemental NPRM
                Comments at 80-81 (Proposal 40, Create a New Civil Rights Branch of
                the Enforcement Bureau), filed in MB Docket No. 09-182 (April 3,
                2012).
                 \7\ 2014 Quadrennial Regulatory Review--Review of the
                Commission's Broadcast Ownership Rules and Other Rules Adopted
                Pursuant to Section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
                Second Report and Order, MB Docket No. 14-50, 81 FR 76220 (Nov. 1,
                2016), 31 FCC Rcd 9864 at 10007, para 333 (2016) (Quadrennial Second
                Report and Order).
                 \8\ Id.
                 \9\ Comments of the EEO Supporters at 5-6 (Apr. 30, 2018), filed
                in MB Docket No. 17-105. See also EEO Supporters Ex Parte at 2 (June
                1, 2018), filed in MB Docket No. 17-105.
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                 4. As the Commission observed in the Quadrennial Second Report and
                Order, the EEO team in the Media Bureau has consistently been effective
                at overseeing compliance with and enforcing the EEO rules.\10\
                Nonetheless, there are notable benefits to bringing the EEO team within
                a larger group of enforcement experts. The Enforcement Bureau's staff
                has extensive experience conducting investigations and pursuing
                enforcement in a wide range of areas. They therefore are well
                positioned to provide assistance and guidance with EEO review, audit,
                and enforcement work. Further, the Enforcement Bureau has expertise in,
                and maintains tools and databases to aid with, the tracking of
                statutory deadlines, including those relevant to EEO audits and
                investigations, that the Media Bureau does not.
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                 \10\ Quadrennial Second Report and Order at 10007, para. 333.
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                 5. For these reasons, we believe that shifting the EEO team to the
                Enforcement Bureau will result in more effective enforcement of the
                Commission's EEO rules. Accordingly, we find that the EEO team should
                be moved from the Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau. Specifically,
                the Policy Division staff in the Media Bureau who are currently
                responsible exclusively for EEO audit and enforcement will join the
                Enforcement Bureau's Investigations and Hearings Division.\11\
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                 \11\ As relocated to the Enforcement Bureau, the EEO team will
                continue to perform its existing compliance reviews, as described
                above, including periodic random audits, review of filings that
                broadcasters must submit to the Commission at the same time as their
                license renewal applications, and mid-term reviews. Rulemaking
                proceedings pertaining to EEO issues will continue to be conducted
                by the Media Bureau. 47 CFR 0.61(b).
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                 6. The key objectives of this organizational change are to more
                efficiently deploy Commission audit and enforcement resources, enhance
                industry-wide oversight of compliance with EEO rules, improve cross-
                Commission consistency in audit-based enforcement, and rationalize and
                modernize our organizational structure. We agree with the EEO
                Supporters that we can best accomplish these objectives through
                organizational change. In order to effectuate this change, we modify
                our procedural rules. Specifically, we eliminate the express delegation
                to the Media Bureau of authority for administration and enforcement of
                EEO rules and add an express delegation to the Enforcement Bureau
                covering the EEO rules.\12\
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                 \12\ 47 CFR 0.111(a).
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                 7. The amendments adopted herein pertain to agency organization,
                procedure, and practice. Consequently, the notice and comment and
                effective date provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act contained
                in 5 U.S.C. 553(b) and (d) do not apply.
                 8. This document does not contain information collection
                requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
                Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain any new
                or modified information collection burden for small business concerns
                with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork
                Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).
                 9. The Commission will not send a copy of this Order pursuant to
                the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), because the
                adopted rules exclusively relate to agency management or personnel.
                 10. It is ordered that, pursuant to the authority found in sections
                1, 4, 5(b), 5(c), and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as
                amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154, 155(b), 155(c), 303(r), this Report and
                Order is hereby adopted.
                 11. It is further ordered that part 0 of the Commission rules IS
                AMENDED as set forth in the Final Rules.
                 12. It is further ordered that, consistent with the Consolidated
                Appropriations Act of 2017,\13\ this Order WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE when
                the appropriate clearance has been obtained and the Commission
                thereafter publishes this Order in the Federal Register.
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                 \13\ See Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law 115-
                141, at Division E, Title VI, Section 608, 132 Stat. 348 (2018).
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                List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 0
                 Classified information, Freedom of information, Government
                publications, Infants and children, Organization and functions
                (Government agencies), Postal Service, Privacy, Reporting and
                recordkeeping requirements, Sunshine Act.
                [[Page 9465]]
                Federal Communications Commission.
                Marlene Dortch,
                Secretary.
                Final Rules
                 For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Federal Communications
                Commission amends 47 CFR part 0 as set forth below:
                PART 0--COMMISSION ORGANIZATION
                0
                1. The authority citation for part 0 continues to read as follows:
                 Authority: Sec. 5, 48 Stat. 1068, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 155,
                225, unless otherwise noted.
                Sec. 0.61 [Amended]
                0
                2. Amend Sec. 0.61 by removing and reserving paragraph (d).
                0
                3. Amend Sec. 0.111 by revising paragraphs (a)(11) and (13) and adding
                paragraph (a)(26) to read as follows:
                Sec. 0.111 Functions of the Bureau.
                 (a)* * *
                 (11) Resolves other complaints against Title III licensees and
                permittees (Title III of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended),
                including complaints under Sec. 20.12(e) of this chapter, except that
                the Media Bureau has primary responsibility for complaints regarding
                children's television programming requirements, and for political and
                related programming matters involving broadcasters, cable operators and
                other multichannel video programming distributors. The relevant
                licensing Bureau has primary responsibility for complaints involving
                tower siting and the Commission's environmental rules. The Media Bureau
                has primary responsibility for complaints regarding compliance with
                conditions imposed on transfers of control and assignments of licenses
                of Cable Television Relay Service authorizations.
                * * * * *
                 (13) Resolve complaints regarding multichannel video and cable
                television service under part 76 of this chapter, except that the Media
                Bureau has primary responsibility for complaints regarding the
                following: Subpart A (general), with the exception of Sec. 76.11;
                subpart B (Registration Statements); subpart C (Cable Franchise
                Applications); subpart D (carriage of television broadcast signals);
                subpart F (nonduplication protection and syndicated exclusivity);
                subpart G, Sec. Sec. 76.205 and 76.206 (political broadcasting);
                subpart I ([Reserved]); subpart J (ownership); subpart L (cable
                television access); subpart N, Sec. 76.944 (basic cable rate appeals),
                and Sec. Sec. 76.970, 76.971, and 76.977 (cable leased access rates);
                subpart O (competitive access to cable programming); subpart P
                (competitive availability of navigation devices); subpart Q (regulation
                of carriage agreements); subpart S (Open Video Systems); and subparts
                T, U, and V to the extent related to the matters listed in this
                paragraph (a)(13).
                * * * * *
                 (26) Conduct audits and investigations and resolve issues of
                compliance concerning equal employment opportunity requirements
                involving Title III licensees and permittees or multichannel video
                programming distributors, including cable service providers, under part
                76 of this chapter.
                * * * * *
                [FR Doc. 2019-04563 Filed 3-14-19; 8:45 am]
                BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
                

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